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The leaders of Slough’s political parties have exchanged fighting talk about the prospect of changes to the borough’s elections.
During a key meeting of Slough Borough Council’s cabinet, the prospect of changing how elections are held was considered.
Currently, a third of councillors are elected each year, with councillors serving four year terms.
But there has been a recommendation to switch to electing the entire council in a vote held every four years instead.
The recommendation is just one of many contained in Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC) investigation into Slough Borough Council after it declared itself effectively bankrupt in July.
READ MORE: What do the two damning reports say about Slough Council and what does this mean?
The possibility of these ‘all out’ elections provoked a war of words between councillor Slough Borough Council Labour leader James Swindlehurst, and Cllr Wayne Strutton, the Conservative leader of the opposition.
Cllr Strutton, who represents Haymill and Lynch Hill, said: “One of the recommendations in the two reviews (DLUHC) was a consultation into all out elections. I’d like to ask our leader, will we bring all our elections forward to prior to 2025, potentially, to give the residents of this town the opportunity to have their say on how the political members of this organisation have acted and responded to this current financial crisia we’re in, or will it be put back to 2025 as that’s the earliest it can be done since we’ve just had an election.”
Cllr Swindlehurst replied: “I have no idea where this 2025 reference comes from, that hasn’t been discussed by anyone.
“I don’t think anyone was talking about anything as far away as 2025.”
He pointed out that there will be an election in 2022 for the cohort of councillors last elected in 2018.
READ MORE: Slough’s “serious financial failings” prompts commissioners to be appointed
It was then that Cllr Swindlehurst went on the offensive. He said: “The only thing I’d say Cllr Strutton is sometimes you should be careful what you wish for, because there are a whole range of issues that can come out in an election, and a whole range of people’s performances can be assessed.”
He added: “The assumption that it will lead to some great swave of movement for the Conservative group… it’ll be interesting to see when those tests come what the electorate of Slough think. I wouldn’t assume it would be good for you in any way in the same way it might not be good for me and my administration.
“But we’re in the hands of the people there and I’m sure they’ll have their say.
“I remember in 2014 there was an all out election and it was a classic, where we returned nearly the highest ever number of Labour councillors in the authority despite your belief that something different was going to happen.”
You can watch the meeting and see coverage from the meeting in this Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/jamesAjourno/status/1460314651678449667
Labour was effectively able to defend it’s strong majority in this year’s elections, only losing seats to Chandra Sekhar Muvvala (Conservative) in Langley Kedderminster and Madhuri Bedi (Independent) in Foxborough.
A consultation on having ‘all out’ elections for the council will begin next week, with consultation letters being delivered via Royal Mail.
Residents can also respond online once the consultation is live on the Slough Borough Council website.
During the meeting, the cabinet accepted DLUHC’s review of the management of the council and agreed to enact a Recovery and Renewal plan to change the council to bring it back to financial stability.
