Labour calls for Northumberland County Council leader to stand down ahead of crunch meeting

However, the party’s leadership has reiterated its call for the Conservative leader and other cabinet members to stand down and allow others to take their places.

This follows a turbulent three weeks for the authority since the announcement of chief executive Daljit Lally’s ‘period of extended leave’, which came just after she emailed all 67 county councillors to flag up what she claimed were ‘significant whistle-blowing concerns’, including in relation to council leader Peter Jackson and the regeneration company Advance Northumberland.

Mrs Lally, Cllr Jackson and other cabinet members have declined to comment, while Advance’s managing director, Ken Dunbar, said he was ‘surprised’ to see a reference to ‘significant concerns’ about the ‘well-run’ company.

This was followed by the resignation from the cabinet of deputy leader Cllr Wayne Daley, where he was also responsible for children’s services, and Cllr Veronica Jones, who was the portfolio holder for adult health and wellbeing.

In an email to Conservative colleagues, Cllr Daley made it clear that he was standing down as he disagreed with ‘the decision to remove the CEO’ and that ‘the leader needs ‘100% backing on this single contentious issue’.

Cllr Glen Sanderson, the cabinet member for the environment and local services, is the new deputy leader, while Cllrs Guy Renner-Thompson and Jeff Watson, the chairmen of the relevant scrutiny committees, are the new cabinet members for children’s and adult services respectively.

Last week, Cllr Cath Homer, the cabinet member for arts, culture, leisure and tourism, also resigned, although her replacement has yet to be announced.

Over the past three weeks, a number of emails, dating from June, July and early August, outlining Mrs Lally’s allegations against cabinet members and Advance, have been seen by the Press, including the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

The LDRS has also seen emails from late August sent by cabinet members, including to the authority’s monitoring officer, levelling allegations at Mrs Lally.

It is understood that she has been suspended and a formal disciplinary process started, but a council spokesman said: “She remains on a period of extended leave. We can make no further comment at this time.”

Her former deputy, Kelly Angus, is the acting chief executive, while Cath McEvoy-Carr, the executive director of adult and children’s services, is acting deputy chief executive.

In a further twist, the sharing of some information with other councillors in relation to allegations against Mrs Lally has sparked data protection concerns.

A council spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that a data breach has occurred in regard to expenditure and income for the Northumbria International Alliance project. This relates to a small number of current and former employees, as well as external partners involved specifically in this area of the business.

“We apologise for this error, which should not have happened under any circumstances. We are in the process of contacting all those involved, and have already reported this to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). A thorough investigation will be undertaken to ensure that this does not happen again.”

This saga is likely to be a key talking point at this afternoon’s full council meeting – the first since the Covid-19 lockdown began – which was deemed to be an appropriate date, despite calls for an extraordinary meeting to be held in August.

There has been talk of calls for a vote of no confidence in the council leader and on the eve of the meeting, Labour’s leader, Cllr Susan Dungworth, and deputy leader, Cllr Scott Dickinson, wrote to all members to say: “This is not and never has been an attempt to change the political control of the council.

“It would be neither right nor appropriate to do this, especially in the middle of an internal crisis and while we are dealing with a pandemic.

“We do not want to take over the council at this time nor set aside democracy to do so. The electors of Northumberland will make that decision in May 2021.

“However, this situation cannot continue. We believe the council leader and some cabinet members have acted, and continue to act, wholly inappropriately in their positions and towards staff, and they should stand aside to allow others to replace them.”

Separately, Cllr Georgina Hill, the independent member for Berwick East, who chairs the audit committee, has written to the leader to say that while ‘it would be quite wrong to prejudge the results of any investigations and contrary to natural justice’, ‘I do not believe that NCC can possibly move forward in a positive way or public confidence be restored while you remain the leader of this council’.

It has also been reported that Cllr Daley has been joined by two Conservative colleagues who also represent Cramlington, Mark Swinburn and Christine Dunbar, in calling for Cllr Jackson to step down.

Addressing Tory councillors, Cllr Dungworth said: “As the largest controlling party, we believe you should have the opportunity to select another leader and cabinet to take the council through to the elections next year.

“We know that many Conservative councillors feel incredibly uncomfortable about recent events and the accusations and counter-accusations that have been so widely publicised.

“We need to take this opportunity to act decisively, make the necessary changes and steady this great ship. We know that, although we may have differences in political views, the elected members of Northumberland County Council have the integrity and ability to make the right decision and do the right thing.”

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