Who will be the next Peterborough City Council leader?

3 hours ago

Emma HowgegoPeterborough political reporter

Brian Farmer/BBC A close up of Peterborough City Council town hall. The main building is brown brick, there is a 4 column roman style front and a flag pole with a union flag is above.

After the campaigning and counting finished, you may have expected Peterborough city councillors to be taking a bit of a break over the last week.

However, with no party having an overall majority, or even getting close to one, negotiations have been taking place this week to see who can form an administration.

The council's annual general meeting takes place this evening, where a leader will be elected. Each councillor can vote for their preferred candidate.

The political makeup

Following the last local elections, here is the breakdown of seats won.

Conservative - 13 seats
Labour - 11 seats
Independents - 9 seats
Liberal Democrats - 8 seats
Peterborough First - 8 seats
Green Party - 6 seats
Reform UK - 5 seats

As no party has more than 50% of councillors, whoever secures the leadership will need the support of other parties.

Previously, the Labour group leader, Shabina Qayyum, did this with support from the Liberal Democrats and the independent group Peterborough First.

They formed a coalition with cabinet members selected from across the three parties.

Before the election, Labour were the biggest party. However, they lost four seats, taking their total to 11. If the Liberal Democrats and Peterborough First support Qayyum this time, she would have the votes of 27 councillors.

Shariqua Ahmed/BBC Shabina Qayyum with black shoulder-length hair wearing a burgundy jacket, smiling for camera. — Shabina Qayyum has been leader of the council since September

It is common for the leader of a council to come from the party with the largest number of seats, and the Conservatives have the most with 13 seats. They gained an extra councillor last week after Kirsty Knight joined their group.

Conservative group leader Wayne Fitzgerald has previously been the leader of the council. However, he was removed by a no-confidence vote in 2023 after several members of the party left to join Peterborough First.

It could be a challenge for Fitzgerald to get enough numbers to mount a realistic leadership bid.

Whoever does get the job could end up being the authority's last-ever leader.

The city council, along with all local authorities in Cambridgeshire, is involved in local government reorganisation. The options being considered will see the city council merged with other neighbouring authorities. The current timetable is for that to happen by 2028.