Council Boss slams Reform for not forming administration

Oldham council boss coun Arooj Shah has accused the Reform UK group of ‘refusing to try’ to form an administration to take over leadership from Labour. 

The Labour group boss plans to step down from her post as council leader on May 20, following a ‘total wipeout’ local election result that reduced the group from 26 to 18. 

After gaining 13 councillors on May 7, Reform is now the second largest group in the borough. But with a total of 16 elected members, they would need to come to an agreement with other political groups to reach a majority consensus to put them in a position of power. 

But this is exactly what the group have ruled out doing, with Oldham’s Reform leader Lewis Quigg stating the group ‘would not be doing secret deals behind closed doors’ or joining any coalitions. 

Now coun Arooj Shah has accused them of ‘walking away’. 

The outgoing leader posted on Facebook: “Reform stood for election telling residents they were ready to take control of the council. Now, when given the opportunity to step up, they’re trying to step back and haven’t even attempted to form an administration. That is not leadership, it is a complete abdication of responsibility.

“The electorate has ensured that Reform are in a position to form an administration and the Labour Group will not seek to block this.  

“The fact that Reform  are refusing to even try simply cedes ground to the Oldham Group and Kamran Ghafoor by default.

“They now owe the public an explanation for why they sought power, only to shrink from it when it mattered most.” 

Responding to a request for comment, coun Quigg said: “For the first time since the election campaign, the Lib Dems, SECTARIAN Oldham Group and Tories have finally made clear they won’t support a Reform UK administration. Their plan it seems is to put a Lib Dem in charge!

“Unlike the above parties we are not horsetrading or doing secret deals behind closed doors. The public has rightly had enough of such underhand skulduggery and extra responsibility allowances for votes trading hands. 

“It is therefore clear that Reform UK must hold firm.” 

He also took aim at the Labour leader accusing her of ‘abandoning her post’ instead of facing a no confidence vote on May 20, and suggested the Labour group should have opted for a ‘fresh start’ with a new leader.

With the two biggest groups both excluding coalitions, it leaves the council in stalemate over who will take over its leadership. The only remaining alternative would be a theoretical coalition between the ten Oldham Group members, six Lib Dems, four Conservatives, and remaining six independents, though it’s unclear whether this would be spearheaded by Oldham Group leader coun Kamran Ghafoor, or the new Lib Dem leader coun Sam Al-Hamdani. 

Either way, this would put power into the hands of some smaller groups – such as the Lib Dems and Conservatives – who technically received much lower levels of support at the last election than Reform. 

 

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