Political View: Is an alliance the way forward in local politics?

People have mentioned that this was undemocratic or a power grab but this is not the case. We felt as 26 councillors that this was the most democratic thing to do and drew up a broad alliance agreement between the three groups.

The vote of no confidence is in fact a democratic tool available to councillors to request a change in the administration of the council. Our council has been in no overall control for many years and we now have a minority administration of 17 councillors out of 60 . It is not a given that the largest party runs the council. This is only if they have a majority which they do not.

The alliance of three parties put a challenge to the Labour administration and explained our reasoning. In response Labour extolled their own virtues as if to say no other party, councillor or cabinet member would be able to take over their roles. This in fact happens all the time all over the country. The Tories responded with anger and vitriol. Such vitriol and personal attacks are really not necessary. In reality we all need to, and regularly do, work together.

This proposed joint administration would have been 50% larger than the current single party minority administration. We would represent a broader range of the city’s residents. Our combined parties represent 76,928 people with the current Labour administration representing 40,771. Local residents and taxpayers who would have gained more minds, more experience and we believe better leadership for their money.

Peterborough has the potential to be a fabulous place to work, live and play. We supported this leadership bid as we felt it would take this city in the right direction to blossom and grow into something even better than it is.

As Greens, when we get the opportunity to have a seat at the table and be able to influence decisions which we see as key for the city, of course we want to be part of that if we can. As a smaller party it most often has to be part of an alliance or coalition .

We have tried over the years to form some kind of alliance with Labour, and we have come close, but as a centralised party dictated to by the National Executive Committee, they have never been able to gain permission to achieve this.

The Greens are in control or in joint administrations in 40 councils across the UK and have a wealth and depth of experience in joint administrations which we could have drawn on. Joint administrations and alliances can be incredibly successful. They tend not to lurch towards pendulum shifts in policy and offer more proportional representation of resident’s voices.

The alliance could have created more stability and ultimately benefit the people of this city, but It was not to be - this time -although 26 votes out of 59 was not insubstantial .The Labour administration is now backed by the Tories – a curious alliance. Have the two major parties with apparently opposing views become indistinguishable? Nothing stays the same in politics and things can change at any time. In the Green group we will continue to work hard, as we always do, for the people of Peterborough and hold this administration robustly to account.