News, Politics

Reform hit back at claim they ‘haven’t got a clue’ how to run Nottinghamshire County Council

By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter

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Reform’s councillors have hit back at a claim they “haven’t got a clue” how to run Nottinghamshire County Council during the group’s first meeting in power.

Nigel Farage’s rebranded Brexit Party took control of the authority from the Conservatives with a clear majority in May, securing an initial 40 out of 66 available seats.

The number has since fallen to 39 after Desmond Clarke, who unseated the Conservative Party’s Keith Girling in Newark West, resigned a week after the election. A by-election will now take place for his seat.

The Conservative Party, which previously ran the authority with 34 seats, is now the main opposition with 17 councillors.

Reform’s very first Full Council was held at Oak House on Thursday (May 22), during which the group formally appointed the leader of the authority, Cllr Mick Barton, as well as the chair and vice-chair.

Cllr Jan Goold was selected as chair, while Cllr Christopher Adegoke was chosen as vice-chair.

Four Reform councillors were not present at the meeting.

Handing over administration, the Nottinghamshire Conservatives raised concerns over the newly elected Reform councillors and their ability to run the authority.

Cllr Johno Lee (Con), who represents Balderton, said: “You have 18 months, maybe three years if you are lucky, until the next election when you are going to have to look at your residents and go through the list of things you promised you were going to do – that you just can’t keep.

“I look forward to sitting on the committees with you because I don’t think you have a clue, if I’m honest, with the greatest respect, of what this job entails.

“I have been a district councillor for years, I’ve been a parliamentary candidate twice, I thought I knew it all.

“I knew nothing. If it wasn’t for Bruce Laughton, Chris Barnfather, and the seniors we had here to hold my hand and walk me through, I don’t know where I would be.

“Now we have people with less experience than me now running this council.”

Cllr Sam Smith, leader of the Nottinghamshire Conservatives and the opposition group, added: “I hand over this council, what is an outstanding council, a well-managed council, to Reform.

“We Conservatives had a proud track record of getting things done. And we delivered on local priorities, and that is probably why we are the biggest Conservative opposition group in the country.”

Responding to the concerns, the new leader of the council, Cllr Barton (Ref), said: “You said we haven’t got a clue – I can tell you now we have got more professionalism on this side of the chamber than this chamber has probably ever seen.

“We all come from professional backgrounds of business, we’ve got two doctors, we’ve got a lawyer, we’ve got health professionals, the list is endless.

“Yes, the council is different. But we bring life skills. I am proud to work with all these people.”

Cllr James Walker-Gurley, the council’s cabinet member for economic development and asset management, added: “You don’t have anything to worry about.

“We are all hard-working people, anything we don’t know now we will know with the support of the council, who have been fantastic.”

During the meeting, the Reform administration was criticised by Cllr Steve Carr (Broxtowe Ind) for its lack of answers to questions posed by councillors.

One question concerned the option for staff to continue to work from home.

Cllr Barton said the group needed more time to gather information and that it was “too early” to make a decision, despite Reform’s leader, Mr Farage, saying home working would end.

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Barton told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he “doesn’t know” when the group would have more detailed answers and policies.

“Until we start delving in, we don’t know,” he said.

“The work starts now. Up until now we’ve just been having informal cabinet meetings.”