Political View: From backstabbing in June to bedfellows in September

However, they say a month is a long time in politics. Three months must be a lifetime! In just under three months, Peterborough City Council has gone from an attempted coup from the Liberal Democrat and Peterborough First party against the Labour administration, followed by a coalition deal putting them all in power together!

Earlier in the year these parties voted to disrupt progress on the Werrington Fields Saga. Before that they voted to try and bring down the Labour Budget, which would’ve plunged the council into turmoil and breached our legal obligations to provide services. And then in June, we saw a vote of no confidence against the Labour administration brought by Peterborough First, the Liberal Democrats and the Green party. Less than 3 months ago, and yet it’s all been forgotten.

You must ask, what has changed in this time other than the collective thirst for power and positions? How can these new bedfellows overcome their huge differences on policies and even their lack of confidence in each other? Meanwhile, our sensible support putting the city before politics to ensure the Labour group survived the vote of no confidence, and passed a budget, have been forgotten. Some people have short memories.

As per my article last week, we had a sensible proposal which acknowledged the political fragility and low numbers each group has. We proposed to pull together expertise from across the council. From every political group and utilising the expertise of independent members of the council. The Conservative group proposed an administration that did just that. Roles allocated based on experience and ability, not political colours or backroom deals. Unfortunately, this was voted down by most members, instead opting for a select few parties to be rewarded for their votes with positions in the cabinet and as committee chairs because of pre-arranged deals. Ironically, an administration for the few whereas our proposal was for the many and would have brought all 60 councillors into the responsibility of the administration.

We have seen Peterborough First, let’s not forget a registered political party, give up any semblance of ‘independence’ in their thirst for power and position. They will have surely committed to collective responsibility to vote through the budget supporting their new Labour friends. Councillor Qayyum’s greatest threat for running an administration now comes from within. Her new deputy leader of the Council, Councillor Mohammed Farooq, has spent the last 2 years playing power games, and they won’t stop until he becomes leader of the council again, at any cost from my experience. We saw this in the vote of no confidence a few months ago. With attempts to try to re-join the Conservatives and probably even trying with Labour too, perhaps Peterborough First need to be very careful too as the disruptors of this new coalition are within. None of this is good news for the city.

After blocking their attempted coup and voting for stability on the council, the leaders of the Peterborough First party and the Liberal Democrats previously said “vote Conservative, get Labour”. Only 12 weeks later we can see that if you vote for Liberal Democrats or Peterborough First, you get Labour: if by voting Labour, they receive allowances and positions!

The Conservative group will continue to offer robust challenge in the council chamber, and we will hold these political chameleons to account in their decision making. It has never been more vital to vote in the local elections in May, and we will be making the case in wards across Peterborough to ensure our city and its residents are not betrayed again.