Call for Metro Mayor’s resignation defeated and meeting adjourned for investigation to complete

The meeting calling for Metro Mayor Dr Nik Johnson to resign came to an end late Friday night with no resolution.

The extraordinary meeting of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority had been called following a number of allegations levelled at Mayor Johnson.

At the meeting, the press and public were initially admitted however, the confidential nature of the meeting soon saw the doors shut for the remainder of the day.

It comes as Metro Mayor Johnson removed councillor Wayne Fitzgerald as deputy mayor of the Combined Authority, replacing him with Labour councillor Lewis Herbert on 19 May.

Councillor Herbert then put forward an amended motion, removing the call for the Mayor to resign or any suggestion of a vote of no confidence in the Mayor, substituting instead the words: “…until any ongoing investigations into the Mayor and those allegations levelled at him have been concluded.”

The members finally emerged at 7pm having completed two of the three agenda items they wanted to resolve and the meeting was adjourned to a later date - the time and place of which has yet to be determined.

The motion for Friday night's meeting had been tabled by four Conservative leaders of councils, councillor Wayne Fitzgerald (Peterborough City Council), councillor Chris Boden (Fenland District Council), councillor Anna Bailey (East Cambridgeshire District Council) and councillor Ryan Fuller (Huntingdonshire District Council).

The motion was also signed by the Chair of the Combined Authority Business Board, Austen Adams.

However, following the local election results - where Ryan Fuller was not re-elected - he was unable to attend the meeting.

That was then followed by the resignation of Austen Adams on 16 May so he too could not attend the meeting.