It’s one of the biggest days in Kirklees Council’s 52-year history – and even leading councillors don’t quite know what’s going to happen.
The council has started to put itself back together after tumultuous local elections which saw Labour completely wiped out and Reform UK go from zero seats to 29, becoming the biggest party.
Today (Wednesday May 20) the council’s annual meeting at Huddersfield Town Hall will see a vote on who will become leader and form a Cabinet – and the outcome is far from certain.
The all-out elections put all 69 seats up for grabs and the results saw Reform UK and the Green Party advance while Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats all lost seats.
The Independents in Dewsbury and Batley also gained and now nine of the 11 – all barring former Mayor of Kirklees Masood Ahmed and fellow Dewsbury South councillor Hanifa Darwan – have joined forces under the Kirklees Independents group banner.
The current make-up of the council is: Reform UK 29, Green Party 12, Kirklees Independents 9, Conservatives 9, Lib Dems, 5, Holme Valley Independents 3, Independents 2.
While Reform UK is six seats short of an overall majority, it would need virtually all of the other groups and individuals to combine to keep them out, and that’s highly unlikely.
It’s also unlikely that any group will do a deal with Reform UK to get them over the line. Whatever happens, it’ll go right to the wire.
Talks between the group leaders took place on Tuesday afternoon and more were expected on Wednesday morning ahead of the mayor-making ceremony at 12.30pm.
The next mayor was to have been Labour’s Munir Ahmed (Dalton) but he lost his seat so the new Mayor of Kirklees will be Green councillor Karen Allison (Netherton & Newsome).
It’s understood the Deputy Mayor will be Heckmondwike Reform councillor Lee Cliff.
Clr Allison (above), whose chosen charity for the year will be Huddersfield-based Uniform Exchange, said: “It’s a real honour to be Kirklees Council’s first citizen.
“I’ll also be chairing Kirklees Council meetings over the coming municipal year which should be interesting!”
Huddersfield Hub understands that the outgoing mayor Clr Liz Smaje is ill and can’t attend the meeting. Clr Martyn Bolt, as one of the few remaining former mayors still on the council, will be asked to chair the start of the meeting.
After the mayor-making, the council meeting will be adjourned until 2.30pm when the new council leader will be elected – or possibly not.
The Reform UK leader Sarah Wood (Liversedge & Gomersal) will put herself forward and Green Party leader Clr Andrew Cooper (Netherton & Newsome) may also make a bid for the leadership.
As there’s no overall majority it’s likely all leadership bids will be voted down at first and the council’s chief executive Steve Mawson will then adjourn the meeting again and ask party leaders to negotiate among themselves to find a way forward.
The council must elect a leader though, if more time is needed, Mr Mawson would take temporary charge.
Councillors would then return to the chamber and try again and it may be that all the opposition parties decide to abstain to allow Reform to take control.
If there’s no agreement and no leader succeeds, the meeting would be adjourned to another date with Mr Mawson as caretaker leader to keep the council functioning. That would only be a short-term solution, however.
The new Liberal Democrat leader, Lindley councillor Anthony Smith, admitted his group – with just five members – was now a “small cog and not king-makers.”
He added: “It all hangs on what the Conservatives do. We’re all trying to run through all the possible scenarios but we might all be wrong. There’s no certainty about what’s going to happen.”
Clr Habiban Zaman, leader of Kirklees Independents, said: “We are still talking and exploring options. We just want everything to be fair and transparent.
“Reform have made it clear they want the leadership and to form a Cabinet but we don’t know what will happen.”
