TORY BID TO TOPPLE LABOUR LOST DUE TO
LIB DEM FENCE-SITTING!
A Conservative attempt to bring down Bristol's Labour Council failed last night after Lib Dem Councillors refused - for the second time inless than a year - to back the bid.
Tory leader Councillor Richard Eddy's motion of no confidence in the Labour Administration - which also sought the removal of the Leader of Council, Cllr Helen Holland - was defeated by 9 votes. Twelve Conservatives and one Green councillor supported the resolution, with 22 Labour councillors voting to save their rule and 26 Lib Dems abstaining.
The Conservatives argued that Cllr Holland's rule was increasingly “arrogant, ineffectual and directionless” and attacked the ruling Labour Group's policies on school closures, Residents' Parking charges and support for a mass-burn incinerator.
Speaking after the debate, Cllr Eddy accused the Liberal Democrats (who have the largest number of councillors on the 'hung' Authority) of “running scared of responsibility”.
Cllr Eddy (Con, Bishopsworth) said: “For the second time in less than a year, Barbara Janke and the Lib Dems have flunked the offer of Council leadership and propped up Labour.
“As Bristol is plunged into a major recession, the City Council needs to take a radically new direction and drop its damaging policies on Residents' Parking charges, road tolls and the axing of good local schools.
“This is the fifth time in the last six years that Cllr Janke has shown she and her colleagues are afraid to face up to the challenge of running the city.
“Those fighting Labour's savage school cuts, persecution of the motorist and plans for an incinerator at Avonmouth will feel cheated by the Lib Dems' cowardice.
“Now it is clear that only the Conservatives can be trusted to oppose Labour rule in Bristol.”
