Opinion: Call it a hiatus…. I’ll Be Back!

At last night’s Full Council meeting members of the Peterborough First group were due to table a motion of no confidence in me as Leader and my Conservative group in order to take control of the council in a power grab.

You may wonder how this is possible when Peterborough First has just 11 members and the Conservatives have 23 – it should be 31 I might add, based on how those members were first elected by residents at the ballot box – but that is politics for you.

Other opposition groups will have sided with these so-called Independents and voted the motion through, despite them wanting to play no part in a coalition administration. Read into that what you will.

It is extremely disappointing that Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens are playing politics in supporting Peterborough First. They are doing what they have always accused me of – “playing politics”. Their reasons given for doing this simply do not add up – it is purely down to personal grudges against me and the Conservative group and the twisted ambition of one individual who we believe become the new leader, namely Cllr Mohammed Farooq.

Peterborough First have no legitimacy to lead our council – it is undemocratic and irresponsible of the opposition groups to back this move now. Many believe they should all wait until May 2024 and the local elections to come around again which is how democracy should work. I’m sure the voters will remember this betrayal when the local elections take place next May.

When I look back, I am incredibly proud of what I and my group have achieved. The investment we have attracted for the city, along with the support of the city’s MPs Paul Bristow and Shailesh Vara, is phenomenal.

Some people may not appreciate the impact this will have on the city, but in a decade the benefits of the investment we have secured will be clear to see.

We will have a railway station that looks inviting and attractive, offering a great first impression of our city and taking people straight into the heart of our city centre. We will have a university which is attracting students from across the globe, giving them an education, which will allow them to step straight into the workforce locally. We’ll have new housing of all types and tenures and regenerated leisure sites. There will be new jobs as a result of the new investment in our city and the fact businesses will want to invest here.

All of this will make Peterborough an even more attractive place to live, invest and spend time and money.

The decisions that this Conservative administration and I have made over the past two years, and the Conservatives administrations before that, have set Peterborough on the right track and will help everyone to see the opportunities that exist here.

I am also proud of the improvements we have seen across the council, particularly in relation to our finances.

When I became Leader in May 2022 there were huge challenges ahead, but with the support of our Independent Improvement Panel and a fantastic group of officers we have made real progress to get on top of this.

Don’t just take my word for it, read the regular updates from our Improvement Panel.

We still have a way to go to achieve financial sustainability and the new leadership will have very difficult decisions to make to be able to balance the council’s budget in 2024/25, but the challenges that we face are nowhere near as severe as other councils because of the hard work undertaken this far.

Naturally, I will be sad to step aside particularly now when we are doing so well. I have loved leading our city and representing it on a local, regional and national level.

I believe that our city is fantastic and has so much to offer and that there are greater times ahead.

But this is not the end for me and the Conservatives locally, I am going nowhere as I’m elected until at least 2027.

Call this a hiatus in our tenure – the electorate will decide what they want at the next local elections in May 2024.

And in the immortal words of Arnold Schwarzenegger - “I’ll Be Back”.