Peterborough City Council leadership challenge: What is a vote of no confidence?

A vote of no confidence in the leader of Peterborough City Council (PCC) is scheduled for Wednesday, 1st November.

The move could see Cllr Wayne Fitzgerald (Conservatives, West) removed from his position as head of the council and an end to more than two decades of Tory rule.

But what actually is a vote of no confidence and what happens when it’s taken?

A vote of no confidence, also known as a motion of no confidence, firstly, can be brought against an individual leader or their administration.

In this instance, it has been brought against both: the wording of the motion says that the council has “no confidence in the leader of the council, their cabinet or their administration”.

The motion will be voted on at PCC’s next full council meeting, attended by all councillors, and requires more than half of their votes to pass.

There are 60 PCC councillors and more than half of them are members of Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and Peterborough First – all of whom have shown support for the motion – so it’s likely to pass.

The motion was brought by Cllr Chris Harper, the leader of Peterborough First: a collection of independent councillors, most of whom are former Conservatives.

It says that “political attacks” on the opposition from the administration has led to a “deterioration” in their relationship “to such an extent that the delivery of our council services and having majority consent on major policy including the budget are at risk”.

After the vote is taken, a new leader and cabinet will be proposed by the current opposition.

The makeup of this won’t be clear until the motion has passed, although it’s likely to be primarily members of Peterborough First ruling via confidence and supply.

What’s confidence and supply?

Confidence and supply is a system whereby the administration – in this case, Peterborough First – is supported through votes and motions by other parties without entering into a formal coalition arrangement with them.

This happened at a national level in 2017 when Theresa May’s Conservative Party was left without a majority after a general election; she entered a confidence and supply arrangement with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

Opposition parties other than Peterborough First, such as Labour and the Liberal Democrats, may consider entering a more formal coalition if they have the numbers to do so after May’s local elections – but equally, the council could return to Conservative control if the party wins enough seats.

This all assumes, though, that the vote of no confidence will pass on 1st November.

While it currently appears to have sufficient backing – nothing is certain until it’s taken.