Council leadership survives no confidence motion

Bradford councillors voted down the no confidence motion by a margin of 16

Bradford Council’s leadership has survived a vote of no confidence amid fresh accusations by opposition parties of a “catalogue of failings” in recent years.

The Labour-run administration faced a barrage of criticism during a meeting of the full council at City Hall on Tuesday evening.

The Conservative group tabled the no confidence motion following the announcement last month that the NEC Group had pulled out of operating new music venue Bradford Live, with other issues also highlighted during the meeting.

However, Bradford Council leader Susan Hinchcliffe described the motion, which failed by 16 votes, as "absolute hypocrisy".

Labour's handling of the new Bradford Live venue was a key criticism by opposition groups

As well as concerns over the Bradford Live venue, the council's troubled children’s services department was also highlighted alongside delays with the Darley Street market opening and claims high-profile regeneration projects like the One City Park development were not delivering.

Ahead of the no confidence vote, which was supported by all opposition groups, Rebecca Poulsen, Conservative group leader, said the "never-ending failures of leadership in this council" could not continue.

"The latest failure has been Bradford Live, which looks fantastic, but £43m of public money is sitting in this closed building.

"A closed, empty building won’t repay the public money that’s gone into it. All the while, the council closes our tips, charges for permits to park outside your home, and increases car parking fees.”

Ms Poulsen also raised doubts over recent assurances that the flagship music venue would be part of Bradford's UK City of Culture 2025 celebrations, stating that this was “a bit different” from being fully open and hosting regular events.

The meeting of the full council was held at Bradford City Hall on Tuesday

Meanwhile, Green Party leader Matt Edwards said “the buck has to stop somewhere” for the district’s many challenges, including the council narrowly avoiding bankruptcy earlier this year.

However, he said it was “frankly laughable” for the Conservatives to think “what Bradford needs is more input from us”, adding that he believed the motion was not "a serious one".

Mr Edwards urged councillors across the different parties to make efforts to work together as Bradford "would be a better place if we had a more collaborative council".

Discussing the no confidence motion, Brendan Stubbs, Lib Dem group leader, criticised the council’s scrutiny system.

He also said regeneration efforts were “failing on all fronts".

“Just running basic services people rely on is in an absolute shambles," Mr Stubbs added.

Responding, Imran Khan, Bradford Council’s deputy leader, called the motion “gesture politics at its worst", and accused the Conservatives of having no solutions.

Mr Khan said “ideologically driven austerity” under the last Conservative government had created the “backdrop” for the current challenges.

Councillor Hinchcliffe said the no confidence motion was "absolute hypocrisy" and "pointless".

She accused the Conservatives of “trashing the council just as your party has trashed this country over the last 14 years".

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