Wakefield Council Labour leader survives no confidence vote

Peter Box has been leader of Wakefield Council since 1998

A council leader has narrowly survived a vote of no confidence held by his own party.

Wakefield Council Labour leader Peter Box scraped through by a small margin of votes at a party meeting on Monday.

He has led the council since 1998 but has come under pressure following an Ofsted report into children's services in July.

Labour's chief whip, councillor Richard Forster, said the group "confirmed their continued support" for Mr Box.

The vote was called after Ofsted said there were "serious and widespread" failures in the department with vulnerable young people left at risk as a result.

'Tense'

A commissioner is now deciding whether the government should take control of the department.

One source described the meeting as "tense", according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

It is understood a vote was conducted by a show of hands without debate, rather than a secret ballot, and the motion was defeated. Reports of the margin of victory have varied between three and five votes.

One unnamed councillor, who voted in favour of the motion, said they believed the Labour leader had been "mortally wounded" by the vote.

They said: "I don't think he can survive with 20 plus members of the council having no confidence in him.

"As a council we should hang our heads in shame about what's happened with children's services. There's been a loss of direction at the top."

Another source, who supported Mr Box, said: "There's differences of opinion within the group, and there's a few reasons why people want him to go.

"But I can see no reason why he shouldn't carry on. At the end he asked us to continue our work and everyone was united."

Labour's chief whip, councillor Richard Forster said: "The group confirmed their continued support of councillor Peter Box in his role as leader of the council."