The new leader of the Isle of Wight Council has pledged to do everything he can to work together with councillors across the authority, after his group was criticised for a lack of action and collaboration.
Cllr Phil Jordan has secured the Alliance Administration’s position at the top of the Isle of Wight Council, after last night’s (Wednesday, September 20) deadlock vote to choose a new leader was broken by chair, Cllr Claire Critchison.
Cllr Jordan beat Conservative-hopeful Cllr Suzie Ellis, after Cllr Lora Peacey-Wilcox officially resigned earlier in the day.
After the meeting, Cllr Jordan said he was elated and excited about the big challenge ahead of him, acknowledging there were tough decisions to make and lots of problems to solve.
He said continuity was key, so “projects that have already been started are delivered and do not fall by the wayside.”
Answering some of the disquiet heard in the council chamber, Cllr Jordan said it was clear councillors were interested in a more collaborative approach.
He said the Alliance had already started to have conversations with the other groups about how they can work together.
Conservative Cllr Paul Brading said the Alliance had not delivered nor tackled difficult decisions, adding the council needed a long-overdue leadership change and voted for Cllr Ellis.
Cllr Tig Outlaw, also voting for Cllr Ellis, said the Alliance had sat on its hands by not dealing with the issue of surplus places in primary school and had failed the Island’s children.
However, Cllr Richard Quigley believed the Conservatives had ‘no meaningful plan to better the life of Islanders’ and voted for Cllr Jordan.
Cllr Karl Love, who caused the vote to fall to deadlock by abstaining, said the council had failed to work together and had instead focused on tribal party politics rather than representing the people they were elected by.
Moving forward, Cllr Jordan has not ruled out a cross-party cabinet but said no decision had been made yet. He said it was something the current cabinet would be discussing in the coming weeks.
He said even so, the group was going to find some way of engaging with the other councillors that are not part of the Alliance.
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