An Isle of Wight Councillor has accused his own group of ‘not listening’ and ‘not being progressive’ after he abstained from a crucial vote to decide the authority’s next leader.
The vice-chair of the Isle of Wight Council and member of the Alliance Administration, Cllr Karl Love, did not vote for his own group’s leadership candidate, Cllr Phil Jordan nor the Conservative’s Cllr Suzie Ellis in last night’s contest.
He said he felt he could not vote for either leadership candidate as they were only offering division and not unity and has now called for more collaborative working in his explanation for abstaining.
Cllr Love’s abstention meant the vote ended in deadlock — at 19 apiece — leaving Cllr Claire Critchison, the council’s chair, with the deciding vote, which she cast for Cllr Jordan.
After the meeting, Cllr Love said he abstained as he felt “the values of when he joined the council, of working together, were not being achieved.”
He said:
“A true coalition involves everybody and that is not what is happening here; we failed the people of this Island by not being able to work together for them and only working for political parties.”
Cllr Love felt councillors should be utilised for their skillset from across the chamber to do the best job for the Island, not just restricting the decision-making to a select few.
He said:
“We have arrived here because 20 or so councillors feel disenchanted and disenfranchised with the other side because of a lack of communication.
“It is clear to me the Alliance have stopped listening and being progressive and I hope tonight that changes and they start thinking about inclusion instead of exclusion.”
Following on from his win, Cllr Phil Jordan has pledged to work together with councillors across the chamber, finding some way to engage with them all.
He has not ruled out a cross-party cabinet but said it is something current members will discuss and decide on in the coming weeks.
Cllr Love was once the cabinet member for adult social care but stepped down after finding it ‘difficult’ to stay in the post with continual budgetary pressures and staffing issues.
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