Broxtowe's Lib Dem leader defends coalition U-turn

THE Broxtowe Lib Dem leader has defended his desire to enter a coalition with Labour – despite claiming he would not work with them before the election.

The development comes days after the two parties struck a coalition deal for the next four years – although the deal still needs final confirmation at a Labour meeting tonight.

Labour and the Lib Dems have been in coalition agreements for the last eight years in Broxtowe.

In the local elections on May 5, the Tories won most seats, as they did in 2007, but again they did not win enough for a majority and now only have one seat more than Labour.

Conservative MP for Broxtowe, Anna Soubry, said the Lib Dem leader David Watts told both her and the council's Conservative leader that the Lib Dems would not enter another coalition with Labour.

She said: "Having been approached and assured that whatever the outcome they wouldn't go into coalition with Labour again, I'm really sorry they've gone back on it when I see no good reason for them to work together.

"There are some Liberal Democrats that are particularly good and I hoped that they would have gone with the Conservatives in giving Broxtowe the change the borough clearly wants and have voted for. The Conservatives are the biggest group and Labour came second."

And the leader of the Conservatives at the council, Councillor Richard Jackson, said: "They said they wouldn't work with Labour again. They've been saying that for several months. I think they've looked at the national picture and they've perceived they've lost votes for being part of the coalition and I think that's got far more to do with it than any local issues."

Tories met with the Lib Dems last Monday to try to negotiate an agreement.

"It seemed quite amicable, I think we could have reached some agreement on most of it," said Mr Jackson.

When asked if he had indeed said the Lib Dems would not go into another coalition with Labour, Mr Watts said: "It absolutely was the case, that was our thinking at the time.

"We thought the relationship had come to an end and personal clashes were getting difficult.

"But Labour had much more to offer than the Tories did after the election – they offered us so little and their vision for the future of the borough was so limited.

"Having gone into a meeting with the Tories expecting to have an agreement I came out thinking I could not work with them."

He said he had expected a "difficult meeting" with Labour but said it was "very open and positive.

He said that he and the Labour leader Milan Radulovic recognised and discussed the issues from the past.

Mr Watts added: "We know where the potential areas of dispute are and we're both trying to make sure they don't occur, but we're not always going to agree with each other."

But Mr Radulovic warned nothing was set in stone yet.

He said: "Things are not sorted, it's still got to through Labour group and there are people that have reservations because the campaign was a particularly difficult one. It was a particularly nasty campaign in the north, it's put strains on the relationship."

The Liberal Democrats saw their number of councillors reduce from 14 to nine in the recent election.

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