Councillor Tudor Evans OBE introduced the motion on notice on no confidence in the Leader and election of a new Leader.  This was seconded by Councillor Sue Dann.

Following a discussion with contributions from Councillors Patrick Nicholson, Mrs Vivienne Pengelly, Mark Deacon, John Riley, Bill Steven, Dave Downie, Chaz Singh, Kevin Neil, Jemima Laing, Nick Kelly and George Wheeler.

Council agreed -

1.    to remove Councillor Nick Kelly from the position of Leader;

2.    to elect a new leader at this meeting (21/03/22), subject to this motion being agreed, nominations to be proposed and seconded from the floor.  

For (29)

Councillors Allen, Mrs Aspinall, Bowyer, Mrs Bowyer, Dr Buchan, Churchill, Coker,  Corvid, Dr Cree, Dann, Derrick, Evans OBE, Goslin, Haydon, Hendy, Hulme, Mrs Johnson, Laing, Lowry, McDonald, Morris, Murphy, Neil, Penberthy, Rennie, Stevens, Vincent, Ms Watkin and Wheeler.

Against (23)

Councillors Mrs Beer, Bingley, Mrs Bridgeman, Carlyle, Deacon, Downie, Drean, Harrison, Kelly, Loveridge, Dr Mahony, Nicholson, Partridge, Patel, Mrs Pengelly, Riley, Salmon, Shayer, Singh, Smith, Stoneman, Wakeham and Wheeler.

Abstain (1) Councillor Shannon Burden

Councillor Patrick Nicholson raised a point of order that he had emailed the Monitoring Officer this morning, following the receipt of the advice circulated on the process for seeking nominations for the Leader but had not received a response.  This was in relation to where did the guidance set out in the email conform to the constitution.  He had not experienced multi nominations simultaneously rather than taking nominations sequentially and why the Monitoring Officer had sought not to respond to this email.

Ross Jago (Head of Governance, Performance and Risk) stated that officers had been advised that it was likely that there would be more than one nomination.  With that understanding 4.18.4 of the constitution was being used  ‘voting on appointments - if there are three or more candidates for a position and none has more than half of the votes, the candidate with the fewest votes will be eliminated and a new vote taken, this will continue until one candidate has more than half the votes’. That was in respect of three or more candidates, if there were less candidates voting process would be different, as set out by the Monitoring Officer.

Councillor Patrick Nicholson advised that in relation to the constitution, councillors did not have a view, as outlined, of knowing whether there would be more than one or two nominations and therefore the Council should determine how to decide to proceed. He queried why nominations were not being taken as they were nominated, as why the Council should be precluded to three if none of them were successful.

Ross Jago (Head of Governance, Performance and Risk) advised that this situation had not arisen before in the Council and that officers had been a pragmatic as they could be.

Councillor Patrick Nicholson raised a point of order, that the recommendation was from officers and was not necessarily how the Council should determine how it moved forward, as again a precedent was being set on how to seek nominations in the future. Nominations should be taken one at a time, until one candidate had the confidence of the majority of the Council Chamber.     

Tracey Lee (Chief Executive) advised that the constitution was very clear, if there were three or more candidates. At this stage it was unknown how many candidates there would be, therefore running an election where the first candidate got past the post would not comply with the constitution. The advice from the Monitoring Officer was that if there were three or more candidates the constitution set out how the election would be run, if there were less candidates, clearly the process would be to ask each Councillor which candidate they wished to vote for.  The advice through the Lord Mayor would be to seek candidates and then it would become clear which process would be required.

The Lord Mayor proposed and Councillor Mrs Maddi Bridgeman seconded the proposal to suspend standing orders for motion on notice (12b) election of new Leader.

For (53)

Councillors Allen, Mrs Aspinall, Bingley, Bowyer, Mrs Bowyer, Mrs Bridgeman, Dr Buchan, Burden, Carlyle, Churchill, Coker, Collins, Corvid, Dr Cree, Dann, Deacon, Derrick, Downie, Drean, Evans OBE, Goslin, Harrison, Haydon, Hendy, Hulme, Mrs Johnson, Kelly, Laing, Loveridge, Lowry, Dr Mahony, McDonald, Morris, Murphy, Neil, Nicholson, Partridge, Patel, Penberthy, Mrs Pengelly, Rennie, Riley, Salmon, Shayer, Singh, Smith, Stevens, Stoneman, Vincent, Wakeham, Ms Watkin and Wheeler.

Against (0)

Abstain (0)

The Lord Mayor sought nominations for the new Leader of the Council.

Councillor Mrs Maddi Bridgeman proposed the nomination of Councillor Mrs Vivienne Pengelly and was seconded by Councillor David Salmon.

Councillor Mark Shayer proposed the nomination of Councillor Richard Bingley and was seconded by Councillor Dr John Mahony.

Councillor Tudor Evans OBE queried why the process had changed since the meetings that had taken place last week.

The Lord mayor noted Councillor Tudor Evans, OBE query and advised that it had been considered that a poll vote would be open and transparent and would be the best way forward.

Vote for Councillor Mrs Vivienne Pengelly

For (12)

Councillors Mrs Beer, Mrs Bridgeman, Deacon, Downie, Drean, Harrison, Kelly, Nicholson, Loveridge, Pengelly, Salmon and Singh.

Vote for Councillor Richard Bingley

For (26)

Councillors Bingley, Ian Bowyer, Mrs Bowyer, Dr Buchan, Burden, Carlyle, Churchill, Collins, Corvid, Evans OBE, Haydon, Hulme, Mrs Johnson, Lowry, Dr Mahony, Morris, Neil, Partridge, Patel, Rennie, Shayer, Smith, Stevens, Stoneman, Ms Watkin and Wheeler.

Abstain (15)

Councillors Allen, Mrs Aspinall, Coker, Dr Cree, Dann, Derrick, Goslin, Hendy, Laing, McDonald, Murphy, Penberthy, Riley, Vincent and Wakeham.

The Lord Mayor announced that Councillor Richard Bingley had been elected as the Leader of the Council.

Councillors Mrs Vivienne Pengelly wished to congratulate Councillor Richard Bingley and wished him well.