Council Greens call for ‘real influence’ after cabinet snub

THE Bristol Greens urged Marvin Rees to give them “real influence and power” on the council as it emerged they do not have a place on the ruling group.

New leader of the Greens Paula O’Rourke issued her challenge to the city mayor after the political group was given Labour’s share of committee chair roles instead.

The Greens became the joint largest party on Bristol City Council when citizens voted in 24 Labour councillors, 24 Green councillors, 14 Conservative members and eight Liberal Democrats at this month’s local elections.

There was some expectation that the new ruling cabinet would reflect voters’ choices after Labour lost its slim majority on May 6.

But Mr Rees gave a clear indication last week that he intended to appoint another Labour-only cabinet, as he reappointed a fifth Labour member to the ruling group.

And on Tuesday Cllr O’Rourke confirmed the Labour mayor has decided against giving any cabinet roles to Green Party members.

She explained the mayor has the executive power to appoint who he likes to the cabinet.

“Marvin has decided not to offer roles in cabinet to the Greens – at the moment,” Cllr O’Rourke told the council’s annual general meeting.

“Cabinet is where decisions are made and the holders of cabinet office are the members with the decision-making power which shapes the future of the city.

“From the correspondence and dialogue that I’ve been having with citizens, it’s clear that they believe that Greens should be involved in the leadership of the city, and they expected that we would be offered cabinet posts.

“But we do have control of more committees and we will use that influence to improve scrutiny of policy and decision making.”

In a speech prepared before the meeting, which she ran out of time to finish delivering, she referred to the mayor’s oftrepeated call for councillors to come with “an offer and an ask”.

“Here’s our offer – we will be a powerful ally when we see that the mayor is moving in the right direction, and we will provide strong, principled opposition, challenging him to change course when we see him going in the wrong direction.

“And our ask? That you respect the will of the people of Bristol who voted for Green councillors to be given real influence and power in decision-making.”

The mayor did not respond to Cllr O’Rourke’s speech, which was ostensibly about a report of a working group set up to implement the recommendations of external auditors in the wake of the Bristol Energy scandal.

Mr Rees has spoken about the need to build trust with opposition members before appointing any to his cabinet.

Instead of seats on the cabinet, the Greens have been given more council committee chair positions than they are entitled to.

A report to the AGM shows that, of 12 non-statutory committees, Green councillors will chair seven, the Conservatives will chair three, and the Liberal Democrats two.

Labour have given up the majority share of committee chair roles they would have been allocated according to the political make-up of the council. Notably, Green councillors will chair three of six scrutiny commissions and the human resources committee.

Cllr O’Rourke said the Greens would do their best to influence council policy with the power they had been given.

Speaking before the meeting, Cllr O’Rourke said she was trying to put the city in front of party politics but the Greens would not be “subsumed”.

“We’re not going to be there for a ‘greenwash,’” she said. “We’re not about earning his [the mayor’s] trust. We’re about building trust between us and that’s a two-way street.”

The AGM was the first full council meeting to be held after the elections and the first to be held in person since February last year.

❝ We will be a powerful ally when we see that the mayor is moving in the right direction, and we will provide strong, principled opposition when we see him going in the wrong direction Cllr Paula O’Rourke