A rocky week for Newcastle Council's new leader
It's thought a no confidence vote is being planned
Newcastle’s council leader looks set to face a vote of no confidence next month, after Labour lost its majority in the city.
Liberal Democrats are planning to trigger a vote seeking to remove Karen Kilgour as the leader of Newcastle City Council in December, the Local Democracy Reporting Service can reveal.
It comes after her predecessor, Nick Kemp, and five others quit the Labour Party on Tuesday – a move that has shifted the political balance of the local authority into no overall control.
Coun Kilgour insisted on Wednesday night that her administration was “stable”, following a chaotic couple of months at the civic centre.
The West Fenham councillor was installed as the city’s first female council leader in September, after Coun Kemp resigned following revelations that he was the subject of a bullying complaint from a senior council director. He has strenuously denied that allegation.
But, just weeks into Coun Kilgour’s reign, the majority that Labour has held on the council since 2011 has evaporated thanks to the resignations of Coun Kemp, Marion Williams, John Stokel-Walker, and David, Margaret and Stevie Wood from the party.
All six are now sitting as independents, while Labour holds only 50% of the seats in the council chamber – 39 out of 78.
That change in the balance of power had led the Lib Dems, the largest opposition party with 22 councillors currently, to seek a vote at Wednesday’s full council meeting to remove the council leader.
They were prevented from doing so, as council procedures mandate that prior notice had to be given further in advance of the meeting, and instead now plan to call the vote at the next full council meeting on December 4.
In an exchange between Coun Kilgour and opposition leader Colin Ferguson relating to the city’s relationship with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the majority owners of Newcastle United, he asked if the “political instability” in the city risked making it a less attractive investment proposition.
The Labour leader replied that she had a “stable administration” and that she held no such concerns.
She added: “It would help, of course, if you didn’t try and make those little political points when you try and destabilise when there is not actually an issue there in the first place.”
Posting on Facebook on Tuesday, Coun Kemp blamed the “behaviour of a small but poisonous self interested element” within the Labour group for his decision to leave.
Confirming that he planned to see out his term of office until May 2026, he added: “I will issue a full statement in time but I need to hold onto my integrity and my health and continue as I have always tried to do, which is represent the people of Byker to the best of my ability. I joined the party over 35 years ago and have served it in many ways, I was proud to have been a party activist and representative, this is not a decision I have taken lightly.”
Of the six Labour councillors who left the party on Tuesday, only Coun Williams was present on Wednesday night.