I hear that it will be announced tomorrow that Labour, who fell 2 seats short of an overall majority on Stockton Borough Council, will form a council in coalition with IBIS.
It goes without saying that, for all our sakes, I wish the new council and its cabinet well. That said it is extremely disappointing, however, that the Labour group flatly refused to consider continuing what had been a relatively successful power-sharing arrangement with the Conservative group (which culminated in Stockton being named 'Council of the Year' in 2010), not because the Labour group thought that an agreement with IBIS was in the best interests of the borough, but because of their objection to government policies. One can only smile at the hypocrisy of the Labour group then opting to instead work with IBIS given Labour's objections to free schools, such as the one IBIS hope to secure!
It remains to be seen what impact a Labour - IBIS run council will have on Yarm and Kirklevington, but given Labour's track record of only spending money where it enjoys support and the extremely parochial attitude of the IBIS councillors these are likely to be challenging times.
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