Vote of no confidence in Denbighshire Council leader fails

The vote of no confidence was backed by Conservative and independent councillors, with Conservatives calling the Labour-led leadership at Denbighshire County Council “ineffective” and saying it was “failing residents”.

Denbighshire County Council leader, Cllr Jason McLellan, a Labour councillor who was elected leader in May 2022, had said he had led the council through “unprecedented times” by making “difficult decisions to protect vital public services”.

Today's vote of no confidence motion failed by 17 votes to 25, with 3 abstentions.

A Denbighshire County Council spokesperson said: "During today’s full Council meeting in County Hall, Ruthin, a motion of no confidence in the Leader and the Cabinet of Denbighshire County Council was put forward.

"In accordance with due process a full and open discussion was conducted in the council meeting followed by a recorded vote.  

"The result of the recorded vote was 17 for the motion, 25 against the motion and 3 abstentions, which means the motion was not carried, therefore the Leader and Cabinet will remain in situ."

Plaid Cymru's group of councillors slammed Conservative and Independent councillors for playing "political games".

Cllr Delyth Jones accused the previous council leadership of trying to “distance themselves from all responsibility” for the rollout of Denbighshire’s new Trolibocs waste collection system.

Cllr Jones pointed to a series of meetings held between October 2018 and April 2022 by the Cabinet of the Conservative/Independent administration.

In these meetings, the cabinet, led by then Council Leader Cllr Hugh Evans, made a series of decisions regarding moving to a new system for the waste and recycling service.

Cllr Jones said: “So, I would like to begin by referring to an aspect upon which all of us, I am sure, can agree. And that is that the roll out of the new service has been far from acceptable.

"And that aspects of the change has caused many challenges, frustrations and stress to residents, members and officers alike.

“So, to turn now to the current Leader Jason McLellan and the Cabinet – it is right to say that the current administration took on the policies and strategic direction and service plans that had been provided and signed off by the previous cabinet in good faith – vehicles, number of new jobs etcetera.

“A plan that was welcomed by all members of the past administration involved under the leadership of Councillor Hugh Evans.  

“It is the same members who are now seeking to contravene their own decisions – and distance themselves from all responsibility when challenges have arisen – I do not consider that to be good leadership.

“It is not for the current administration to go through the minutiae of the previous administration’s signed off plans after a point of no return with tendering and procurement had already been reached.

“And so, as a Group we do not believe that this administration can be held responsible for the possible missteps of the previous one.

“We believe that it is unfair to apportion full and sole responsibility to the current administration when fundamental elements of the design and approval of the service were agreed by others.  

“We as the whole of the Plaid Group do not believe there is merit in supporting a motion that would bring about chaos and cost.

“We should be focussing on how we can do the best for our residents with the limited resources available to us rather than playing the political games we believe this to be."

The link to this morning's meeting can be found here: https://denbighshire.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/909417.