Middlesbrough’s mayor has been criticised for a “broken” election pledge. Councillors in the town voted last week for the chairs of committees for the new municipal year and nearly all of the chairships went to Labour councillors.
Labour councillors have a majority on the council and it was within their power to chair every single committee. The reason that opposition members are unhappy is because Middlesbrough Labour Mayor Chris Cooke said back in 2023 – ahead of his election – that he wanted to see the chairs of scrutiny committees “completely divided across the political spectrum”. Following last week’s developments, Mayor Cooke said that he ran “a group not a dictatorship”.
Council committees include scrutiny panels, where smaller groups of members investigate matters of importance, as well as the planning committee, which can permit or refuse contentious development plans, while others include the audit committee and the licensing committee.
Councillor’s comments
After a number of votes on Wednesday, May 20, which saw Labour councillors end up chairing all but two of the various committees, Councillor Mick Saunders, who leads the MICA group (the council’s main opposition), said: “Once again, for four years running, [Mayor Cooke has] broken an election pledge regarding the chairs of scrutiny panels across this chamber.”
He then told Labour members to “enjoy your chairs, because it might be your last year you chair them”, in reference to the upcoming local elections in May 2027.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) after the meeting, Cllr Saunders said the mayor had “failed on four occasions”, adding: “That’s out of our control, if Labour have got the numbers, unfortunately they’re going to get the chairs”, adding: “I’m just so disappointed in the whole situation with the mayor at present.”
Meanwhile, Councillor David Coupe, who leads the Conservative group on the council – the third largest group – said that while he was “very disappointed”, he was “not surprised” by the outcome regarding the chairs of committees. Chairs receive varying levels of remuneration depending on the specific committee, while vice chairs do not.
Cooke comment
Responding to the criticism from Cllr Saunders, Mayor Cooke said: “I have worked to create a more cohesive environment and encouraged my councillors to support those who have shown efforts to work collaboratively for the good of the town.
“I run a group not a dictatorship and when other councillors vote against the interests of Middlesbrough residents, such as the budget set last year that brought investment to environmental services, it does not help build trust with councillors in my group.”
When interviewed earlier in the month to mark three years out of four of the mayor’s tenure, Mayor Cooke was asked the comments he had made in an ITV debate in 2023, where he said: “One of the things I would like to do is make sure that chairs of scrutiny [committees] are completely divided across the political spectrum.”
At the time, he said: “Quite early on, the [Labour] group weren’t able to bring themselves to vote for any of the opposition. We had quite a crucial couple of votes in our first couple of months, things we had to do which were essential to keep the council going and the other councillors voted against.”
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