Labour Group Statement on Today’s Council AGM
Today Reform have torn up decades of civic convention and tradition in a blatant attempt to consolidate power within Calderdale Council.
These conventions exist as a safeguard, to ensure every resident and every community is represented, no matter how they voted.
As part of sweeping changes, they have unashamedly politicised the role of Mayor – a position that has historically been independent, ceremonial, and above party politics.
Under the long-established rota and formula system, this should have been Labour’s year to nominate the Mayor. It is therefore especially disappointing that Reform rejected Labour’s nominations for Mayor and Deputy Mayor – councillors who reflect the breadth and diversity of modern Calderdale.
At a time when public institutions should be working to ensure everyone feels represented in civic life, this decision raises serious questions about Reform’s approach to inclusion and representation.
Reform also voted to abolish three of the council’s four scrutiny boards, significantly weakening the mechanisms designed to hold decision-makers accountable and ensure transparency. They then broke further with convention by awarding every chair position across council boards and committees to their own councillors, while also removing the long-standing independent Chair of the Standards Committee, Canon Hilary Barber. Not only are they marking their own homework, they are ensuring most of their homework won’t get marked at all.
This is a strange approach for a party that spent the election campaign insisting it would “welcome detailed scrutiny”.
We are also hearing reports that Reform councillors are refusing to engage with the local press and routinely blocking residents who disagree with them on social media. So where exactly is this promised scrutiny supposed to come from?
Reform are entitled to make changes as the new administration in Calderdale. But within just two weeks of winning power, they have torn up long-standing civic traditions, weakened democratic oversight, and closed down opportunities for accountability.
For a party that talks constantly about free speech, they seem far less comfortable when they are the ones being asked the questions.