Last night the annual meeting of Rutland County Council elected the Liberal Democrat Gale Waller as its leader. It also elected a cabinet of six, all of whom are Lib Dem councillors.
Gale Waller won her vote by 15 votes to 12, which suggests the Lib Dems have the support to run a stable minority administration.
Following the elections earlier this month, the party standings on Rutland are as follows:
Lib Dems 11
Independents 7
Conservatives 6
Labour 2
Greens 1
Let's leave the final world to Uppingham Lib Dem councillor Stephen Lambert...
Crazy to think that just 18 months ago we were debating whether we'd be silly to aim for 6 councillors! https://t.co/WVlQy0AGGO
— Stephen Lambert 🔶️🏳️🌈 (@Stephen_922) May 23, 2023
Congratulations to everyone concerned! I happen to know this represents a personal triumph for Lord Bonkers who has been mentoring Rutland cllr Paul Browne since he first stood against Kenneth Clarke in the 1970 General Election. The noble lord followed the classic Liberal playbook, 'Bide your time, wait for a by-election, then pounce'. Browne had to wait until 2021 for that by-election, but the advice worked!
ReplyDeleteWell, of course, under the cabinet system, the cabinet can make any decision that does not specifically require full council approval, so most of the time the Lib Dems won't need support for their decisions.
ReplyDeleteWe Lib Dems don't want the cabinet system and prefer the committee system but in this case could exploit the powers of the cabinet and actually get things done, only needing council approval for the budget and changes in council policy.