Reform UK leader in Dudley has accused political opponents of orchestrating a 'grubby deal' to deny his councillors key scrutiny roles following the council's annual general meeting.
At the AGM on May 28, the Conservative and Labour groups voted together to approve committee assignments, including cabinet and scrutiny panels. Of 14 statutory and scrutiny committees, Reform secured only one position: Councillor Angela Blythe as vice chair of the Children's Corporate Parenting Board.
Labour, the third-largest group after Conservatives and Reform, gained control of vital watchdog committees such as core business scrutiny, audit, health and adult social care, and standards.
Reform UK leader Councillor Marco Longhi said: 'Reform UK are the second largest party with 23 councillors, just four short of the minority administration Conservatives. It was very amusing, but completely expected, when we saw the Tories and Labour stitch up a deal to control all positions of influence to the exclusion of the second largest party on the council.'
He added: 'The people of the borough put us here to do a job. We want to challenge this administration's grubby deal with Labour, through its desperate attempt to retain control.'
A named vote on appointments saw support from Conservatives, Labour, and The Black Country Party, while Reform and the Liberal Democrats voted against. The vote also approved cabinet and shadow cabinet positions.
Scrutiny committee chairs, vice chairs, cabinet members, and shadow cabinet members receive a special responsibility payment on top of the basic councillor allowance of £12,500.
Council leader Councillor Patrick Harley denied any deal with Labour and said his door was open to all group leaders, including Longhi, whom he said he had no direct contact with. Harley stated: 'The offer was there to work with all groups from myself after the May local elections. Although he is moaning about a stitch up, he gets an allowance, his deputy gets an allowance, and around eight others get an allowance for being opposition spokespersons. It's only fair these seats are dished out proportionally. To give them anything else on top of that is disproportionate.'
Labour group leader Councillor Shaukat Ali highlighted that Reform councillors voted against the list of appointments that included their own positions. Ali said: 'If he is saying people put them in to do a job, they failed to take the opportunity. In effect, they voted against their own positions. It will be interesting to see if they withdraw themselves from those. Where was the alternative? If they were saying they know how to do things better, they should have told us how they would do things better. It was completely inept on Reform's part.'
