Swindons Conservatives today explained why they chose not to form the Councils administration following the stalemate of the borough elections.
Although the Conservatives won the popular vote at the polls on 2 May, the composition of the Council remained unchanged. The Conservatives have only 22 of the 59 council seats, with Labour on 29 and the Liberal Democrats on 8. The electorate rewarded Labour with significantly more seats than any other party, so they are entitled to form an administration.
The Conservatives will scrutinise the Labour administration with great rigour, and will act not just as an opposition party, but as an administration-in-waiting.
The Liberals did approach the Conservatives with a view to forming a joint administration. However, the Conservatives felt that such a coalition would be inherently unstable and unlikely to survive a full term of office at a time when the council needs clear and decisive leadership.
Cllr Mike Bawden, Leader of the Conservative Group, said:
We did consider an approach from the Liberal Democrats but we felt that in the long term any partnership would have led to a considerable fudge.
It was a very difficult decision to make, but the vast majority of my group felt it
would not be possible to sustain a relationship with the Liberal Democrats over twelve months. We did not feel that forming an agreement with the eight Liberal Democrat members would be the best decision for the Council. It is much better to have a workable administration in place.
We cannot get away from the fundamental fact that we have a democratic principle in this country of first-past-the-post, and that under that system Labour remain the largest party.
We believe there are many challenging decisions this council has to make and an administration of one party is the only sensible way forward. We will therefore step aside, but this abstention should not in anyones eyes be treated as an endorsement of the Labour Party.