Rotherham’s opposition leader stays and promises a fight with Labour for the council in 2024

Cllr Ball (Conservative, Hellaby & Maltby West) were elected as the leader of the opposition in January replacing Cllr Emily Barley (Hoober) following the death of her baby daughter during labour.

He was re-elected by the Conservative group the night before the new Mayor, Robert Taylor was appointed.

Cllr Ball told the Local Democracy Service that his team would continue to highlight the “failures of (Rotherham) Labour” and would try and take the council from them next year, during the local elections.

He said: “It’s a great honour to continue to be the leader of the Conservative Party here in Rotherham and I am humbled that the councillors have chosen me to continue in the role as leader.

“We have an incredible team amassed here that is continuing to highlight the continual failures of Labour but not just that, coming up with ideas, motions and policies that will help the residents of Rotherham which you will see coming through in the next several months – these won’t be copied and paste motions that we see from the incumbent group.

“We have people queuing up to join us to continue spreading the Conservative message due to people being aware that there is less than a year to go before our all-out elections in May 2024.

“We were unlucky two years ago by only missing out on a handful of votes that would have meant that Rotherham Council would have been in no overall control and we are busy planning to do better next year and who knows… we could have a council that won’t spend nearly £5m a year on a nearly empty building and one that will refocus on local issues like fixing potholes and rubbish that is blighting our streets.”