Anders Hanson

Last night was the Annual Meeting of Sheffield City Council, with this year’s event all set to be more eventful than usual as the council is now in no overall control.

I suppose it shouldn’t be a surprise that Labour kept control, given they are still (for now) the biggest party on the council. But it was the way in which is happened, and the other votes for committee chairs that are perhaps the most enlightening.

When it came to the vote that decided on the cabinet and leadership of the council, the Tories and Greens abstained thus handing the leadership to Labour despite them supposedly opposing them so vehemently for so long. But what happened next was that Labour and the Greens then voted to put the sole Tory councillor in charge of one of the key scrutiny boards. OK, so the opposition did get an extra scrutiny position, but why give it to the Tories when their vote has collapsed at this election and they lost one of their two councillors? Did someone just use the words “stitch up”?

What happened in the vote is a complete contrast to the comments by the Tory just after the election, when she said that she didn’t want any positions or titles and would just do what was best for Sheffield. Still, given the way the Tories have backed some of Labour’s worst policies over the last few years it shouldn’t be a surprise really.

SHEFFIELD LIBERAL DEMOCRATS: Labour hold on to council reign, thanks to Greens and the Tory