A senior Conservative councillor has accused the Lib Dems and Labour of thrashing out “dodgy” and “secret” deals behind closed doors in a bid to team up and run South Gloucestershire Council. Cllr Sam Bromiley, who was cabinet member for children and young people before last week’s local elections, said the private discussions between the two former opposition groups would weaken the public’s faith in politics.
Labour and the Lib Dems have dismissed the claims. The Tories, who were in charge of the authority for the last eight years with a majority in the chamber, lost almost a third of their seats at the polls on Thursday, May 4, dropping from 33 to 23 councillors on a devastating night for the party both locally and across the country.
They are still the largest group on the council, having more elected members than either the Lib Dems who have 20 and Labour’s 17, while there is also one independent. But with the authority now under No Overall Control, talks began over the weekend between the two centre/left groups to try to strike a deal to form a new administration as a coalition, with their combined total of 37 seats passing the threshold needed of 31 for a majority.
