2023 was the first “All Out” election for many years. Many Cllrs were retiring leaving opportunities for new blood, new ideas, and a shift in the complexion of the Council?

On May 5th 2023, the count was completed which confirmed the split of the 51 seats:

• Labour 23 seats
• Conservatives 15 seats
• Reform 6 seats
• Lib Dems 4 seats
• Independents 3 seats

As no individual party won 26 seats then the Council is, again, in “No Overall Control”. In this circumstance the party with the most seats has the opportunity to form a Cabinet with/without the formal agreement of another party.

With Labour being short by only 3 seats then they are likely to be the ruling party if unopposed at the Annual General Meeting (AGM). The Conservatives have already stated, publicly, that they would not contest Labour taking control. This would mean that Labour would take all of the Cabinet positions.

Analysis of the election results:

Of the 51 seats, the Conservatives only contested 37 – Labour, Reform, and Lib Dems all fielded 51 candidates,

Of the 18 wards, Labour won 7 outright, Conservatives 5, Reform 2, Lib Dems, 1 and Independents 1, with 2 being split ( Chad North and Mackworth)

In addition to the 2 split wards, the other “marginal” ward was Blagreaves. A traditionally Lib Dem ward was lost to Labour by a slim majority across the 3 seats. This was the only true surprise of the election.

For Conservatives , Lib Dems and Reform their votes were very weak (< 25% of the winning average) in the majority of the seats that they contested. Conservatives were weak in 5 wards; Lib Dems – 14 wards ; Reform – 15 wards. Labour maintained substantial vote counts in the seats which they didn’t win.

Paid positions

All 51 Councillors get a basic allowance of £12415 for being in Office.

The Council leadership and Party leaders have further allowances:

The “land grab” for the other paid positions represents the unseemly side of the proceedings in the lead up to the AGM on the 24th May 2023; this happens every year and is particularly unpredictable where there is no overall control.

There are 10 Committees requiring Chairs/ Vice Chairs, plus members of the Licensing Committee; these are highly sought after, regardless of the qualification of the person filling the post A Chair will typically receive an additional £9108 with Vice-Chairs getting £2227.

Full list of allowances

As Labour does not have a majority in its own right, then the other parties could collaborate and allocate all paid positions to their own Cllrs, effectively blocking Labour from any of those Committee seats. This is what happened to the Conservatives a few years ago – that is democracy! Unfortunately many Cllrs “gamble” on getting a paid position in order to supplement their income.

It could be argued that it is healthy for democracy if all of the Committee Chair positions are taken by Cllrs from the opposition parties. However, in the Cabinet system these committees have no decision making powers; at best they can influence. ( NB The exceptions are the Planning and Licensing committees which are statutory and do make binding decisions)

The Mayor of Derby

The Mayor receives an allowance of £9108.

As a general matter of protocol, the previous year’s Deputy Mayor becomes the new Mayor; this has not been the case in the last few years with COVID resulting in Cllr Frank Harwood being made Mayor twice, and Cllr Robin Wood being given the opportunity to continue for a 2nd year in 2022/23.

The current Deputy Mayor is Cllr Balbir Sandhu.

There are alternaives to Cllr Sandhu being discussed as Mayor for 23/24 including Cllr Alan Graves of the Reform Derby group. This would require the support of all non-Labour Cllrs. It is most unusual that the name of the Mayor is not known prior to the day of “Mayor making” on 24th May 2023.

Comment

There are 14 new “rookie” Cllrs representing 27% of the Chamber – this should change its complexion. There is an opportunity to dilute the historic politicking and remove some of the, frankly embarrassing, behaviour that any observer will witness in the Chamber; none of which serves the City.

The “bunfight” over the paid Committee positions feels inefficient and doesn’t necessarily deliver the best person for the job. It is a means to a financial end.

But ultimately that is an internal wrangle. Very few, if any, of the general public would even know of this “process” – who cares?

The Mayor, is a different matter. The Mayor represents the City – the whole of the City, not a certain constituency. The Mayor receives royalty, and dignitaries, on behalf of the people of Derby – they are symbolic. For many, a visit by the Mayor is an important occasion with great meaning and privilege

The choice of the Mayor by the 51 Cllrs should be based on civic suitability, not money…and certainly not party politics or vanity.