Council opposition leaders say they won't yet oust Tories with coalition despite spate of defections

Peterborough City Council’s (PCC) opposition groups have not held serious talks about forming a coalition administration despite now outnumbering the ruling Conservative group, their leaders have confirmed.

While Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and Peterborough First are open to talks with other parties in future, albeit to varying degrees, there is no real appetite among their leaders to try to oust the current administration at the moment.

This is despite a drop in Conservative numbers in recent days. At the local elections on 4 May, the Conservative group gained two seats, putting their number of seats at 30 out of 60 – just one off a majority.

But they're now down to just 26 after four crossed the floor to join Peterborough First; 25 if you don’t count the councillor currently suspended from the council’s Conservative group over a "whip matter".

The turmoil within the group, which has control of the council despite not having a majority, might look to some like the opportune moment for a power grab.

'Common sense' to hang fire on coalition, Labour says

But it’s “common sense” to hang fire, Labour leader Cllr Dennis Jones (Dogsthorpe) said.

“In the next 12 to 18 months there’s a fair chance that Labour will form the Government nationally,” he continued. “For the sake of a year, why would we want to form a rainbow coalition at this stage?”

A rainbow coalition – one involving more than two parties – would also be difficult to manage, he added: “I’ve got better things to do than try to keep four group leaders sweet. You’d never be able to appease everyone all the time.”

Next year is also a better opportunity to take over because the Conservatives will be defending some 15 seats at the council elections – which are held in thirds – more than double this year’s six, Cllr Jones says. This means the potential for more gains from other parties.

Lib Dems say coalition 'just didn't add up'

Labour is currently the second largest party on PCC with 14 seats, while the Lib Dems and Peterborough First are joint third with eight each.

Lib Dem leader Cllr Christian Hogg (Fletton and Stanground) agrees with Cllr Jones that “for a number of reasons,” a coalition “just didn’t add up”.

“Whilst there is a larger opposition than administration, it is across quite a gamut of political beliefs so I think that would be difficult to maintain a credible administration,” he said.

There’s also the lack of appetite from Labour. “There’s been an article in The Guardian recently about how some of the Labour groups have been stopped from going into an arrangement with other parties, specifically multiple parties, so that kind of put the kibosh on it from the get go,” he said.

Asked whether this factors into his position, Cllr Jones said he would have to go through Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) to discuss forming a coalition, but he hasn’t got that far as he doesn’t believe it’s the right time for one regardless.

Cllr Hogg continued that the Lib Dems would “never close the door to anybody” in theory and would look at each offer to join forces as it comes.

As for the prospect of joining with Peterborough First, this is something Cllr Jones is sceptical of as it’s largely made up of former Conservatives. Cllr Hogg anticipates a different problem.

The group, like Peterborough’s Green Party, doesn’t have a whip ensuring members vote the same way.

“So you wouldn’t just be having a conversation with the leader of Peterborough First, you’d have to have a conversation with every single member of that group in order to secure enough support, so that does make it more difficult,” Cllr Hogg said.

Peterborough First has 'no plans at all' to enter coalition

Cllr Chris Harper (Stanground South), leader of Peterborough First, agreed that if another party wanted to discuss a coalition with them, “one might [agree] and seven might not”.

He added that “we are not in a coalition at the moment and we have no plans to be in one at all”, although “things change and it’s fairly dynamic at the moment”.

Greens would prefer coalition comes through voting

The smallest party, the Greens, are a group of three.

Leader Nicola Day (Orton Waterville) said that the group “would work with other parties to form a coalition”, but “other parties have different ideas”.

But that’s not to say she feels now would be the right time either.

“We’d rather form a coalition when the public have voted for us rather than after four defections,” Cllr Day said. “It’s about having a mandate; we’d prefer to see the people vote for a coalition rather than it come through defections.”

The opposition parties held more serious coalition talks after last year’s elections, but they didn’t come to pass.

A coalition would mark a seismic shift for Peterborough, which has had either a Conservative majority or control without a majority since 1999.

Conservatives will continue to lead

The Conservatives will, then, continue ruling for now, with Cllr Wayne Fitzgerald (West, Conservatives) at the helm.

Whether he and his administration are fit to lead the city council through the next year is “something you'd have to ask his troops and former troops,” Cllr Jones said.

“We'll mount a strong campaign over the next year," he added. We'll still be looking to take control.”

Cllr Hogg, meanwhile, sees recent events “not just as an opportunity to continue closer collaboration”, but also to extend it further.

Using the example of the full council meeting on 22 May, which went by almost entirely amicably, he said that the group leaders “thrashed out” the issues on the agenda “in an amicable way” beforehand.

“That could well be the template for moving forward,” he said.

“I think that’s what the people of Peterborough would like to see. They don’t want to see parties bickering with each other in the council chamber; what they want to see is leadership from the people they’ve elected to get the possible outcomes for residents”.