Illicit Pacts and Power-Sharing: Labour Activists Face Suspensions and NEC Veto Over Council Coalitions

A crackdown on local party cooperation is preventing Labour councillors from leveraging their election victories to unseat the Tories in some towns, Josiah Mortimer reports

Labour party councillors celebrating victories in traditionally Conservative towns across England are finding themselves blocked from power – as their attempts at coalition-building to oust Tory administrations are met with resistance from Labour’s national executive committee (NEC). 

Labour activists have highlighted an alleged “crackdown on cooperation” from the leadership in a dozen councils in England following the May 4 elections. 

In areas where Labour lacks a clear majority, such as Hertsmere, Lewes, Canterbury, Folkestone, and eight other councils, forming alliances with Liberal Democrats, Greens, or local independents seemed like a viable pathway to change. 

But, as Private Eye reports this week, the Labour leadership’s understanding of pluralism appears confined to “owning Peter Mandelson’s memoirs in both hardback and paperback” – as the NEC refuses to sign off a raft of progressive coalition agreements. 

In Cherwell, Oxfordshire – a county the Conservatives have historically dominated – Labour’s executive has reportedly rejected a planned Labour-led coalition, potentially at the expense of letting the area remain under Tory control.

The “Progressive Oxfordshire” alliance of Lib Dems, Greens, Labour and independents could have ousted the Conservatives. Instead, the area looks set to have a minority Conservative administration now. 

The rationale behind this approach remains unclear, leaving disillusioned councillors to voice their disappointment. Some, however, suspect the rationale is to avoid Daily Mail headlines about “coalitions of chaos” in the run up to the next General Election.

Neal Lawson, director of the cross-party campaign Compass – which backs progressive alliances and power-sharing – told Byline Times: “Labour’s leadership can’t always be anti-Tory alone. In some places they need to defeat the Tories by working with others. Otherwise, they look like they are putting party interests before the country’s.”

It comes as Labour HQ takes an increasingly centralised approach to local councils, candidate selection, and even council leadership. The NEC was recently accused of ousting the party’s council leader in Birmingham, supposedly to address internal factionalism and poor performance. 

But councillors and MPs are left questioning the value of their victories if they are effectively barred from governing – or worse still, suspended for allegedly working with other progressives.

A number of local party activists have been suspended in Hertsmere (Hertfordshire) over allegations of an “unauthorised pact” between Labour and the Lib Dems before the local elections. Local figures deny that such a pact exists – but regardless, the Conservatives lost their majority, giving Labour and the Lib Dems a chance at running the show for the first time in decades.

Labour’s NEC, however, has refused to sign off the governing deal amid the ongoing row over any pre-election cooperation. 

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“Completely Heavy-Handed”

Byline Times spoke to a senior Hertsmere Labour figure, who branded the situation “bizarre”. 

“They have accused us of having an unsanctioned pact with the Lib Dems, which is complete nonsense. We simply worked hard for nine months to win…There’s been no wrongdoing on anyone’s part. The situation has been heavy-handed, and to be honest, we’re not sure where it all originated from.”

They added: “There was no contact [between Labour and Lib Dems], no emails, no phone calls, nothing.” Some of those suspended are understood to be mulling legal action if they are not reinstated.