The race for control at Gateshead Council is heating up ahead of polling day, May 7
Gateshead Civc Centre(Image: Gateshead Civc Centre)
Liberal Democrats in Gateshead say that control of the town is now a straight fight between themselves and Reform UK.
At the opposition party’s local election manifesto launch on Tuesday evening, Lib Dem activists were told that the race to power at the Civic Centre was a battle with Nigel Farage’s party.
Labour has been in power in Gateshead for more than five decades, ever since the modern borough’s creation in 1974.
But polls suggest the local elections across the UK on May 7 could be brutal for Sir Keir Starmer, with predictions that Labour’s vote could collapse.
Reform is hoping to build on the landslide victory that swept it to power in County Durham a year ago, with Mr Farage having pinpointed Sunderland and Gateshead as councils he expects to win during a rally in Wearside last week.
Ron Beadle, leader of Gateshead’s Lib Dems, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that “if people want to stop Reform in Gateshead, they need to vote Lib Dem” and accused Reform of lacking local policies.
Speaking to party activists gathered at the Tynesider bar on Gateshead High Street, Coun Beadle said: “We have 100 [manifesto] points that we can then be held accountable for so when we take power in May people will be able to say over the next months, years, ‘how much have you done?’.
“They can’t say that to Reform. All Reform are saying is ‘we are going to look at the books when we take control’, we are saying exactly what we would do.”
Lib Dem policies include cancelling additionally allowances for councillors serving as vice-chairs of overview and scrutiny committees and halving allowances for vice chairs of decision making committees. The current opposition group has also pledged to increase the proportion of revenue budget on maintaining green spaces.
The manifesto also states the Liberal Democrats will consult on the creation of town councils where residents want them.
On the current Labour administration, Coun Beadle said: “Reform is only one of our opponents, the other is Labour. I’ll just say this quite simply and bluntly, if Labour were going to sort Gateshead out they’ve had 52 years to do it, it’s not going to happen now, that job is going to fall to us.”
Mark Thorn, a prominent Reform member in Gateshead, responded: “Lib Dems tend to omit national policy often from their literature. That is because it largely won’t resonate with many people in Gateshead. The climate change policies and net zero increases utility bills and within the Council replacing the fleet with electric vehicles will be costly.”
He added: “They may be good at having their members litter pick or clean the town centre but they have a poor record in local government and in coalition with the Tories in the past in national government. A vote for them will only cause more mismanagement, poorer service delivery, costly policies and higher council tax increases, fact.”
Labour figures have this week claimed that voting them out of power in Gateshead would put major regeneration projects, like the promised new arena on the Quayside, under threat.
James Murray, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “At the moment we have a Labour council able to work hand-in-hand with a Labour government and Labour mayor to deliver for the local area. The flyover is now starting to come down, we have investment going into the local area to improve public spaces, to improve the local environment. We are ready to crack on with this and we have begun to do that work – don’t risk it.”
