The trio of Conservatives elected to East Sussex County Council have chosen not to do any deal to form an alliance with other parties, instead they pledge to be a constructive opposition, choosing to vote on any issue according to Conservative principles and the interests of residents.
In his address to Annual Council (21 May), Conservative Group Leader, Cllr Paul Redstone (Northern Rother), said that his group respected the result of May 7th poll and promised to “support what’s good for East Sussex and oppose what is not”.
“Clearly the voters of East Sussex have voted for change”, said Cllr Redstone. He acknowledged local concerns about immigration and a loss of confidence in national politics but reminded the meeting that the focus as county councillors was on the services and issues directly in the remit of the authority; namely: highways, social care, children’s services and the day-to-day functioning of the county council. “That is where residents rightly expect us to deliver”, he said.
Following May 7th elections, the council is under ‘no overall control’ and Cllr Redstone acknowledged how his Group had been approached to form coalitions with either Reform or “some sort of LibDem/Green alliance”. He said it was a difficult decision but after much discussion with his colleagues the “strong sense of duty to residents” was the deciding factor.
“Let me be absolutely clear”, Cllr Redstone told the meeting, “there have been no deals, either formal or informal, with Reform, the LibDems or Greens. As Conservatives who deeply care about our community, the three of us will seek to be the voice of reason. We will be ‘constructive opposition’, looking at each issue on a case-by-case basis, considering at all times the interests of the residents of East Sussex.”
Despite this, the Conservatives did support the election of a Reform Leader of the council and the Chairman. Cllr Redstone explained the reasoning as being best for democracy and best for an effective administration.
“Reform are clearly the largest party. Were they not to form the administration we as councillors could rightly be seen as trying to subvert the expressed views of the voters. I know that some members have used numbers about the share of totals votes compared to other parties, but our system means that it is seats which count. We therefore felt it right to support Reform in their nominations.
“We also supported a Reform chairman. The alternative would have been a paralysed council. said Cllr Redstone.
“Our approach of constructive opposition means that as Conservatives we will determine on a case-by-case basis whether we vote for or against any policy or motion, or abstain. We will also clearly explain on any such occasion our reasons for doing so”, he added.
Cllr Redstone then spoke about the council’s many newly-elected members, almost two-thirds of councillors in fact. He warned against any who try to proclaim ‘we didn’t realise how bad the situation left to us by the previous administration would be’. Cllr Redstone pointed to the myriad public papers and said it was inexcusable to make promises during an election which you discover cannot then be met means you have not really done your homework.
His advice to new councillors taking decisions was “listen to the officials, certainly question and challenge them – that is your job, but base your decision on evidence rather than dogma.”
In conclusion, Cllr Redstone paid tribute to the previous council Leader, Conservative Keith Glazier who had been a member of the authority since 1997. “He always stressed an approach of ‘one council’ with good communication between all parties”, Cllr Redstone told the meeting. “Yes, we differed on many occasions, but we always tried to reach consensus. Whatever our political differences, residents expect us to work hard, behave responsibly and deliver effective local services. That must now be our shared focus.”
