Labour talks after election results

Adam Hewitt • Published 16 May 2010 14:00 0 Comments

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LABOUR is keeping its top team in place after the elections.

The Labour group on Reading Borough Council voted last week to re-elect Cllr Jo Lovelock as leader and Cllr Tony Page as deputy after the party's good performance, which saw it making two gains to offset two losses to the Lib Dems and Greens, despite the national swing against the party.

Cllr Lovelock said the party was starting negotiations with the other parties to decide who runs Reading because the council remains hung with no party having an overall majority.

The Midweek's sister paper The Chronicle reported on Thursday that senior Tories in particular were thinking about a Lib-Con pact to boot Labour out of power, replicating Westminster politics.

Cllr Lovelock said: "We're meeting both other groups over the next few days. It's not entirely clear from their comments in the Chronicle whether they are entertaining a Con-Lib coalition. We will see what they've got to say. We are the largest party in Reading, but the council is still hung.

"Our first priority is, and has been, protecting the vulnerable. We maybe have some common ground with the Lib Dems there, looking at (group leader) Cllr Kirsten Bayes' comments in The Chronicle. We are open for discussions.

"Obviously the most important thing is to have stable political management. We've put millions into community care to protect the vulnerable."

Cllr Lovelock said: "We've got more meetings before mayor-making on Tuesday and we will decide on group spokesmen and women depending on the outcomes of the talks with the other parties."

Tuesday's invitation-only ceremony is at the Town Hall in Blagrave Street and this year's deputy mayor, Labour's Gul Khan, will by tradition be installed as mayor to replace Conservative Fred Pugh.

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