Kirklees Council has a new leader and cabinet as Cathy Scott ousted in a no confidence vote

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

A full council meeting on Wednesday, July 17 saw councilor Carole Pattison elected as the new leader of the council after Cllr Scott lost the vote of no confidence against her.

The vote of no confidence put forward by Kirklees’ Labor group said that Cllr Scott and her Cabinet had “no legitimate mandate” to run the council. While Cllr Scott described this as “deeply flawed”, the motion went through.

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

Soon after, Cllr Pattison set out her 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 be taking seats in the Cabinet, although their portfolios are yet to be announced.

Councilor Pattison’s election followed a lengthy debate on Labour’s vote of no confidence motion which said that then-leader Cllr Cathy Scott and her Cabinet had “no legitimate mandate to run the council”.

An amendment had been added to this motion by members of the Green and Community Independent groups which agreed that Cllr Scott should not be the leader of the council, but said that Labor also had no right to run the local authority. Instead, they proposed a move away from the current Leader and Cabinet model to a committee system, but this was not carried out.

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 Labor leadership as a “travesty for democracy”. She said: “Currently, we have a group of six people trying to provide this leadership.

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

Read more: Kirklees Council spends £7 million over budget as ‘local government finance is 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 resign from her role as council leader but announced she was leaving the Labor Party at the local authority’s annual meeting, and would be continuing on in her role as Leader of the Council.

Kirklees Council remains in a state of no overall control, being run as a minority administration.

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