Nottinghamshire County Council Labour group leader claims Ben Bradley took ‘his eye off the ball’, but brands vote of no confidence a ‘publicity stunt’
Nottinghamshire’s Labour group leader has branded a vote of no confidence a ‘publicity stunt’ — and doesn’t think a new Conservative leader will fix the issues.
Nottinghamshire County Council’s Independent Alliance introduced the vote of no confidence calling on Ben Bradley to step down as leader, following his defeat in the East Midlands mayoral election to Labour’s Claire Ward.
The vote will be held after this Thursday’s full council meeting (May 16).
The motion, by Independent group leader Jason Zadrozny and four members, states: “Over the past few years, the Conservative administration who run this council have had one aim and objective; that being to get the current leader of this council elected as the Mayor of the East Midlands’ Combined Authority at the expense of providing a good level of service across all departments of this council.
“We therefore call for the immediate resignation of councillor Ben Bradley as leader of Nottinghamshire County Council.”
To be successful the vote would need the support of several Conservative members alongside the opposition groups.
In response to the upcoming vote, Labour group leader Kate Foale said: “Given the fantastic results for the Labour Party in Nottinghamshire with the convincing election of Claire Ward as East Midlands Mayor and Gary Godden as the Police and Crime Commissioner, our residents have voted to break free from the Conservative chaos that we have been subjected to over the last few years.
“Ben Bradley has taken his eye off the ball in pursuit of personal career ambitions and is failing to run the council properly, but will a different Conservative leader bring about the change Nottinghamshire needs? I certainly don’t think so.
“We have seen how simply replacing one Conservative leader with another in Westminster didn’t fix anything, and in the case of Liz Truss who crashed the economy, there is always the risk it could make things even worse.
“While the Conservatives are the ruling group in Nottinghamshire they will continue to let our residents down and fail to provide the services they desperately need.
“Labour’s focus is on winning the next local elections in 2025 and delivering meaningful change for our residents, not wasting council time with publicity stunts like this.”
Mr Bradley previously told the Local Democracy reporting service the motion intended to ‘rub his nose’ in his election defeat.
He said: “This motion has nothing to do with confidence in my leadership. It is all about the Independents seeking to rub my nose in last week’s election result,
“We have a very clear constitution within the council that says the leader of the largest group is the leader of the council.
“On Wednesday, the Conservative group will reconfirm this. By the time we get to the AGM, this question will have been asked and answered.
“Councillor Zadrozny knows the rules, but as usual is wasting everyone’s time. He’s just seeking to kick a man while he’s down.
“It’s frustrating and disappointing but I have no intention of playing his daft games. I’m just cracking on doing my job.”
