Kirklees Council has a new leader and cabinet as Cathy Scott removed her in a vote of no confidence

A new leader and cabinet have been appointed at Kirklees Council after members voted to remove councilor Cathy Scott.

At a full council meeting on Wednesday July 17, Councilor Carole Pattison was elected as the new leader of the council after Cllr Scott lost a vote of no confidence against her.

The motion of no confidence tabled by Kirklees’ Labor group said Cllr Scott and her cabinet had “no legitimate mandate” to lead the council. While Cllr Scott described this as “deeply flawed”, the move was approved.

This prompted a vote for a new council leader to take place immediately, with two candidates put forward – Labor Cllr Carole Pattison and the Community Alliance’s Habiban Zaman. Councilor Pattison was victorious, with 23 Labor councilors voting for her, 19 members voting against and the remaining 22 abstaining.

Soon after, Cllr Pattison introduced his cabinet and their portfolios.

Kirklees Council’s new cabinet

• Leader: Cllr Carole Pattison
• Deputy Leader: Cllr Moses Crook (Holme Valley South)
• Children’s Services: Cllr Viv Kendrick (Heckmondwike)
• Finance and Regeneration: Cllr Graham Turner (Golcar)
• Health and Adult Services: Cllr Bev Addy (Colne Valley)

Councilors Munir Ahmed (Dalton), Tyler Hawkins (Dalton) and Amanda Pinnock (Ashbrow) will also take Cabinet seats, although their portfolios have yet to be announced.

The election of Cllr Pattison followed a lengthy debate over Labour’s motion of no confidence, which said then leader Cllr Cathy Scott and her cabinet “had no legitimate mandate to run the council”.

An amendment was added to this motion by members of the Greens and Independent Community groups, who agreed that Cllr Scott should not be leader of the council, but said that Labor had no right to lead the local authority either. Instead, they proposed moving from the current leader and cabinet model to a committee system, but this was not achieved.

Read more: ‘Labour has no right to run Kirklees’ say Greens and Community Independents

Councilor Pattison described Cllr Scott’s decision to form an independent group after losing the Labor leadership as a “sham for democracy”. She said: “We currently have a group of six people trying to provide that leadership.

“We have an incomplete cabinet not only in numbers but also in skills and experience to provide reassurance to our communities that they are at the heart of all decisions made by this council.”

Read more: Kirklees Council spends £7m over budget as ‘local government finances are in crisis’

Councilor Scott had previously been the leader of the Labor group but was replaced by Cllr Pattison in May. Councilor Scott had been expected to step down from her role as council leader, but announced she would be leaving the Labor Party at the local authority’s annual meeting and would continue in her role as Council leader.

Kirklees Council remains in a state of general lack of control, being run as a minority administration.

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