Two councils in England still without leader two months on from May local elections

Two months on from May’s local elections, two councils in England remain without a leader or a ruling party, in further evidence of Britain’s fragmented political landscape.

The elections on May 7 resulted in 64 local authorities– nearly half of those contested this year – failing to see any single party secure a majority of seats, leaving them in what is known as “no overall control”.

Deals between local parties have seen administrations formed in almost all of those councils, with many being run by one or more groups on a minority basis.

However, in Oldham in Greater Manchester and Kirklees in West Yorkshire, repeated attempts to elect a new leader have failed.

In Oldham, Labour had governed since 2011, but the May elections left them as the largest party on the council with 18 seats, significantly short of the 31 needed to form a majority.

Reform UK’s surge in the polls saw them come second in May, winning 16 seats, while a range of Independent groups took another 16 seats, the Liberal Democrats won six and the Conservatives four.

So far, the competing groups have been unable to put forward a candidate who can command the 31 votes needed to become leader.

Attempts to elect a leader failed on May 20, June 15 and most recently on July 1.

At Kirklees, the elections left Reform the largest party with 29 seats, ahead of Independents on 14, the Greens on 12, the Tories on nine and the Lib Dems on five.

No party has the 35 seats needed for a majority and attempts to elect a leader failed on May 20 and May 28.

Both Oldham and Kirklees are due to meet again on July 15 for another vote.

Although local conditions – described by some as “toxic” and “divisive” – have played a part in Oldham’s stalemate, the borough’s Liberal Democrat group leader Sam Al-Hamdani believes hostility at the national level is also a factor.

He said: “Politics has devolved into this very ‘yah-boo’ culture of ‘you don’t think the same as me, therefore you are the enemy and you are awful’.

“That’s a very difficult position to have normal conversations in and sort something out like this.”

While the day-to-day running of Oldham and Kirklees can be managed by council officers, their inability to elect a leader raises questions about whether they will be able to pass a budget for next year or set out longer-term plans for their boroughs.

There is also the possibility that Whitehall could intervene if the councils’ lack of a leader prevents them from making key decisions.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “It is for councils to elect a leader, and they are legally required to make sure decision-making continues effectively even when a leader is not yet in place.

“The department will intervene in a local authority when necessary to ensure they are operating in accordance with the law.”

Oldham and Kirklees might be exceptions in having no leaders, but the fracturing of British politics and the rise of Reform and the Green Party has led some commentators to suggest that “no overall control” represents the future of British politics.

Jonathan Carr-West, of the Local Government Information Unit, said no overall control (NOC) was “normal” in England, with seats more evenly divided between a larger number of parties.

He highlighted Birmingham as a potential sign of things to come. Having previously been run by Labour, May’s elections saw Reform become the largest party with 23 seats, followed by the Greens on 19, Labour on 17, the Conservatives on 16 and the Lib Dems on 12, with 14 Independents.

The result has been a Lib Dem-Green-Independent coalition running a minority administration, with no party willing to work with Reform.

He said: “What I would be looking at is what’s going to happen in the next general election.

“Should we be looking at something like Birmingham, and thinking that’s what we need to be preparing for as a country?”

May’s elections left 64 councils with no party in overall control, 30 of which were previously run by a majority party.

Some 15 councils have seen formal coalitions take charge, but most of the 64 authorities are now run by minority administrations, generally based on the largest party.

In some areas, parties have combined to keep the largest group out of office.

At Redditch in Worcestershire, Labour ended up in first place with 13 seats but the council is now run by a coalition of Conservatives and Independents backed by Reform votes.

In the London borough of Southwark, Labour secured 29 seats compared to 22 for the Greens and 12 for the Liberal Democrats, but the latter two parties combined to shut the former administration out of power.

Elsewhere, Reform have been the ones kept out of office, such as in Havant in Hampshire, where Labour, the Lib Dems and the Greens have continued their pre-election coalition despite Reform being the largest party after May.

Mr Carr-West said the rise of Reform and the Greens provided an added complication for councils in no overall control, as they did not operate in the same way as older parties.

He said: “For example, the Greens don’t whip, they don’t have a single clear manifesto.

“The ability of the group leader to marshal (councillors) is not as strong as some of the traditional parties. That makes things harder.”

Mr Carr-West added that the large number of new councillors meant many had limited history together or in some cases barely knew each other.

While he insisted this was not necessarily “a bad thing”, he said it meant that “many of the tools that officers have previously used to navigate NOC – existing relationships, pre-engagement, knowledge of the manifesto and working through group leaders – are all less useful than they used to be”.