Wednesday 13 May 2015

All kicking off in County Hall - Labour lose control...updating


Update;18:10;
BBC reporter @aledscourfield confirms on Twitter that a deal has been struck between Plaid and the Independents. It now seems that Plaid leader, Cllr Emlyn Dole will lead the council, his name will be put forward at next week's AGM.

The Labour coup seems to have backfired spectacularly and they've lost control of the council.

Plaid Cllr Alun Lenny spoke this evening to the @SWEveningPost ;
"We have our own manifesto and we have our own priorities.
"Obviously we have inherited a most difficult position but we are determined to improve the image of the council and make it more open and transparent."

We'll see. This is a coalition after all, and with Meryl and Pam, and a poisoned chalice.
Interestingly, at the last council elections in 2012 it was rumoured that if Plaid won, Mark James would leave...although knowing how much Mr James likes to involve himself in the politics of the council, he never leaves things to chance. Perhaps Kev and his splintered group were becoming a liability for him, and as for Jeff Edmunds, Mr James has already marked his card, some time ago.

Interesting times ahead...

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Rumours that Meryl and Pam and their merry Independents were not going to agree to work with Jeff Edmunds, the council leader in waiting, are now confirmed.

The Labour/Independent coalition is in pieces as the Indies have, this afternoon, made overtures to the Plaid Cymru group (the largest with 29 seats) to form a coalition which would boot the ruling Labour group into opposition. Labour have also offered Plaid a coalition deal.

It looks like the Labour rebels who ousted Kevin Madge didn't quite think this one through...

Whether the Plaid group will be tempted to get into bed with Meryl, or Jeff, or remain in opposition, we'll have to wait and see.
Also as predicted, it is Meryl who is calling the shots.


Previous post; Kevin Madge resigns, here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

quite a shock to see Meryl and Emlyn as a couple. Rumour has it that Mark James is the usual coalition matchmaker at CCC. So much for progressive politics and locking out the Tories.....

Anonymous said...

The Labour/Independent coalition might be back on at this rate by Monday if Labour can find a leader that the Independents like.
You do wonder if Mr.Dole has thought this through.