'Sheffield City Council's leadership is hanging in the balance'
The council’s leadership arrangement could collapse
This morning, Sheffield City Council’s leadership balances on a knife's edge.
Labour leader Fran Belbin laid down the gauntlet yesterday (Thursday, October 15), calling on the city’s Green contingent to denounce the party’s controversial ‘Zionism is Racism’ motion, blasting it as “shameful and antisemitic".
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The motion was passed at the party’s national conference in Brighton on Sunday, October 4 and quickly received reaction from across the political spectrum.
The issue has boiled over in Sheffield - and could now leave the council without a majority leadership.
In May, Labour and the Greens formed an alliance to lead the council.
Labour lost seven seats, while the Green Party gained six and Reform UK 12.
The Liberal Democrats meanwhile hold 22 of the city’s 84 seats, and despite previously working with Labour and the Greens the party ultimately broke away from the leadership arrangement over the controversial Local Plan and concerns about building houses on the greenbelt.
In terms of who runs the council moving forward, everything rests upon the response of the leader of Sheffield’s Greens, Angela Argenzio.
She has previously said the party represents “all faiths and backgrounds” when questioned about the national party’s motion, adding; “I can say unequivocally that we do not, and will not, conflate either Zionism and Judaism, nor anti-Zionism with antisemitism.”
However, if her party now fails to meet Labour’s standards it could mean that Labour forms a minority administration, continuing to lead the council but without the backing of a majority of councillors.
There would be changes to a number of council committees, including transport and regeneration which is currently chaired by the Green Party’s Alexi Dimmond.
Alternatively, the Liberal Democrats may be able to form a new coalition, though the odds of that seem low.
The Lib Dems also denounced the Greens’ Zionism motion, while debates around the Local Plan continue to cause division throughout council chambers.
Even if they chose to work with Reform UK - which considering party leader Ed Davey’s denouncement of Nigel Farage seems improbable - they wouldn’t have enough seats to form a majority.
Next week we may be faced with an overhaul of the council, leaving the city’s politics more divided than we’ve seen in years.