A VOTE of no confidence in Bradford Council’s leadership will be called by local Conservatives at the next full Council meeting.

The Conservative & Queensbury Independent Group on Bradford Council says the recent announcement that the NEC Group were pulling out of the £50m Bradford Live project was the “straw that broke our collective backs.”

They say the current leadership has “completely humiliated” the District.

But Bradford Council’s Leader described the move as “political knockabout” from a party attempting to recover from a General Election loss.

The vote of no confidence is expected to be held at the October 15 meeting of Bradford Council, and if enough Councillors vote with the Conservatives, it would lead to current Executive that runs the Council stepping down.

The Conservatives want them replaced with an Executive made up of politicians from various different political parties.

Labour currently holds 49 seats out of the 90 on the Council. With 14 seats, the Conservatives & Queensbury Independents are the biggest opposition party.

The Executive is made up of six Labour Councillors and is headed by Council Leader Susan Hinchcliffe, who has held the role since 2016.

The other five are appointed a “portfolio” of areas that they hold responsibility for.

Councillor Rebecca Poulsen, Leader of the Conservative & Queensbury Independent Group said, “Whilst my colleagues and I have had ever decreasing confidence in the ability of the Leader of the Council and her Executive Committee to provide the best for the people of the Bradford, the latest debacle of Bradford Live, the project which saw over £50m of taxpayer’s money spent on a palatial but nonetheless currently in limbo building, has been the straw that has broken our collective back as a group of Councillors.

“For months and months Councillors and the public have been kept in the dark over what is happening with this project.

“In light of the fact that the Leader of the Council and her Executive Committee; needed to externalise Bradford Children’s Services, due to numerous issues highlighted in a succession of negative review findings from external inspections, caused the Council’s perilous, potentially effective bankrupt finances, built One City Park – a resounding flop which will struggle to meet just its long term financing costs to the Council, even if it is, somewhat implausibly fully let, very soon, can’t build a market to schedule or budget, or tell residents what is going on at the Interchange despite the Leader of Council being on the committee which decides this, having repeatedly humiliated the district on the national stage in the run up to the City of Culture Year, we decided that it was finally time to instigate a vote of no confidence.

“We have been deliberating taking this step for some time, but feared that it may cause further upheaval in a collapsing Council.

“However, it is clear that the current Leader of Council and Executive Committee are learning nothing from their never-ending tally of mistakes.

“We had hoped that the Labour Group would themselves choose a new top team, but it is now clear that they do not believe that they have more capable people amongst their ranks. Whilst a vote of no confidence is effectively ‘the nuclear option,’ this never-ending series of disasters simply cannot continue. It has to end now.

“Consequently, at the next Full Council Meeting in October, we will be calling for the existing Executive Committee to be replaced by a cross-party Executive Committee of people who the Council deem better equipped to stop the Council from being a national laughing stock.”

Responding to the announcement by the Conservatives, Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe said: “After 14 years of chaos when the previous government trashed our country, the people have just expressed a massive vote of no confidence in the Conservatives at the ballot box.

“The result is local political knockabout from the Tories who after a huge election defeat are trying to recover themselves.

“In the meantime, Bradford Labour won’t be deterred from working hard to deliver a positive future for people in our district – regeneration, new jobs and better services.”