Labour needs to do a deal with the Greens, says Sheffield councillor as authority goes to no overall control

Coun Ben Curran emailed fellow councillors to say Labour’s new Leader needed to “work productively with opposition parties”.

And he said ousted Council Leader Bob Johnson had not been given enough time to “change Labour’s fortunes”.

Bob had only been leading the city for five months when he lost his Hillsborough seat in the local elections by 324 votes. The Greens polled 2,337 votes while Labour took 2,013.

He had taken over as Leader following the retirement of Julie Dore, after her decade long rule.

Coun Curran, who ruled himself out of the Labour Leadership contest, said: “Friday was a tough day that we all hope isn’t repeated anytime soon.

“I really feel for Bob, who was doing a fantastic job as Leader, but wasn’t given enough time to change our fortunes.

“We cannot assume that Labour will continue to lead the council. Our new Leader’s primary task will be to retain power, and this realistically means doing a deal with the Greens.

“Our Leader needs to be someone with a clear vision and plan, who can communicate effectively with the electorate and who can work productively with opposition parties to ensure our Labour values lead the council after the AGM. We cannot take that for granted.”

No one party has enough seats to be completely in power so the council is now in no overall control.