Mayor's appeal for councillors to choose leader

The mayor of West Yorkshire has written to all 69 councillors in Kirklees urging them to pick a leader after two failed ballots.

Tracy Brabin took the unusual step after elected members were again unable to agree on who should be appointed to the role in a meeting on 28 May.

The Annual General Meeting of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) is on 25 June and normally includes all five leaders of the region's councils.

In her letter she pointed out that Kirklees, which covers Huddersfield and Dewsbury, would be missing and that the WYCA would not be able to appoint board members for politicial balance to reflect the wider county make-up until it was clear who the leader was.

Brabin wrote: "Kirklees has a good recent history of compromise and negotiation, and I urge you to have further conversations on a cross-party basis to resolve this, for the benefit of Kirklees residents, and the public across West Yorkshire."

She also highlighted importance of the role of political balance members.

The mayor said: "We will not always agree, but where we do, where we find our common ground, we can demonstrate cross party commitment to regional priorities, giving greater confidence to the public, businesses and investors that politicians can put place over politics."

The last Kirklees leader vote between councillor Andrew Cooper, leader of the Green Party, and councillor Sarah Wood, who heads the Reform UK group, ended in a 29-29 stalemate.

Cooper said: "The mayor sent a letter to 69 councillors, really it should have been directed at the nine Conservative councillors who have voted against myself and the Reform candidate as leader.

"It's down to the Conservatives to decide what to do. The deadlock can only be broken by them."

However, John Taylor, the leader of the Conservative group, said it was up to the leaders of the two biggest parties to sit down and agree a compromise.

He said: "I'm hoping that before we get to 15 July common sense will kick in and both leaders will sit down and find a way to work together."

Wood said her party had tried to reach out to Cooper and other members of the Green-led coalition.

They had been met with resistance which was "very embedded", but after talks with other councillors indications were "the stalemate was breaking".

She said: "I think there is a possibility there will be a different vote on 15 July."

Reform is the largest party on the council with 29 out of a total of 69 seats, but fell short of a majority.

The Greens have 12, Independents 11, Conservatives nine, Liberal Democrats five and Valley Independent Group three.

A spokesperson for Kirklees Council said: "Councillors are due to meet on 15 July when they will be asked to elect a Leader.

"In the meantime, key regional posts on the Fire Authority, Police and Crime Panel and others have been filled by Kirklees councillors.

"Places on the council's scrutiny, planning and other important committees are also now filled and the panels are operating."

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.