Peterborough City Council leader expects to lose leadership

Wayne Fitzgerald faces a leadership challenge, which he said was "totally undemocratic" after recent political upheavals at the council

The Conservative leader of Peterborough City Council says he expects to lose a vote of no confidence.

Opposition councillors have tabled a motion to remove Wayne Fitzgerald as leader at a full council meeting on 1 November.

He said he would "take it on the chin" if he was ousted.

He said he hoped to stand as Conservative candidate to become mayor of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.

• Listen: Wayne Fitzgerald in the Hot Seat with BBC Radio Cambridgeshire's Chris Mann

A vote of no confidence had been expected by Mr Fitzgerald for some time and has referred to it in social media videos and interviews in recent months.

The Conservatives are the largest political party on Peterborough City Council, but they do not have a majority and are running the unitary authority as a minority administration.

However, since the local elections in May a number of councillors have left the party citing major disagreements with Mr Fitzgerald's leadership.

They have joined a group called Peterborough First. The motion has been put forward by the leader of that group, Chris Harper.

Ten councillors, including the leaders of the Labour, Liberal Democrats and Green groups, have signed it. They are expected to put forward an alternative leader and administration at the same time as the no confidence vote.

Resigned to his fate

Mr Fitzgerald said he thought he would "almost certainly" lose the vote and would "take it on the chin".

He added that he did not "recognise it" and it was "totally undemocratic" because the ex-Conservatives had not stood for re-election once they had left the party.

When he was asked about his political future, he said he wanted to stand as a candidate for the Combined Authority Mayor.

He said: "I can't say I'll be the Conservative candidate, what I can say is I'm approved to stand.

"I'll be pushing myself forward to seek the candidacy and indeed win that election when it comes."

The combined authority is next due to have a mayoral election in 2025.

The current mayor is Labour's Dr Nik Johnson, who won the public vote in 2021 after second preferences were taken into account under the supplementary vote system.

In 2025, the election will use first past the post system. If that system had been used in 2021, the mayoralty would have been won by the Conservatives.

The full council meeting is scheduled to take place at 18:00 GMT next Wednesday.