Charles Joyce quits as leader of Labour group at West Norfolk Council – saying leaders ‘must be prepared to set aside previous grudges’

The leader of the Labour group at West Norfolk Council has quit, saying it was time to “step aside and let another try to bring about change”.

Cllr Charles Joyce, who represents South and West Lynn Ward on the authority, said he had accepted being the group’s leader “very reluctantly and only on a temporary basis” more than two years ago.

Cllr Joyce said although he had expected “bumps and bruises along the way” after the Independent-led administration took over the reins at the council and having proposed that Terry Parish become leader, he feels that “leaders must be prepared to set aside previous grudges to improve life for people who live in West Norfolk”.

He added that the staff pay award – which the two councillors clashed on earlier in the year – was only one bump in the road.

“It had within it an uncosted future increase for almost a third of staff,” Cllr Joyce said, in a resignation letter he shared with the Lynn News.

“If any employer wants top-quality workers, they will need to pay proper wages. But financial costings must be known.

“While money is important, so too are working conditions. The adherence to antiquated working practices that disregard modern-day pressures that working parents and carers must deal with shows the council to be a backward-thinking near-neanderthal employer for which money cannot compensate those with the skills in demand elsewhere.”

He added: “I can see no difference between the programme being presently followed than that of the previous Conservative administration with one exception. The new administration is meaner than the Tories.

“Last year £40,000 went to foodbanks to help local people with the cost-of-living crisis. This year I know of none.

“There is £30,000 for the night shelter put in the budget by the Conservatives, but the administration refuses to send it to the shelter preferring to hide behind an anonymous spokesman when asked for the reasons. And they refused to fund £1,100 for the Remembrance Parade in Gaywood. All this when there is an unexpected extra £1.8 million in this year’s budget.”

Cllr Joyce said that he felt that Cllr Parish and his cabinet needed to work more constructively.

“Only a fool would believe everyone would always agree,” he said.

“Yet there was no genuine reason for Terry, or one of his cabinet, to pick fights with so many other members of team West Norfolk with whom the borough council needs to work constructively. It’s as though building bridges is an alien concept.

“I’m no fan of much of what the Tories do. Yet some at the council would not even meet and speak with Conservatives.”

Cllr Joyce added: “Hearts and minds will never be won without talking and leaders must be prepared to set aside previous grudges to improve life for people who live in West Norfolk.”

Cllr Parish told the Lynn News that he had “no wish to engage in mudslinging”.

“The public have enough of that from politicians and I am not one,” he said.

“I hope Cllr Joyce enjoys his newfound time and may I take this opportunity to wish him and all your readers a Happy Christmas.”

According to West Norfolk Council’s website, Cllr Francis Bone has taken over as leader of the Labour group, with Cllr Alexandra Ware as deputy leader.

It comes after Cllr Alex Kemp stepped down from her cabinet role in July – just two months after being appointed in May.

At the time, she said she felt she could not support the cabinet’s “general direction of travel” – and claimed that she had found that putting her views forward had been met with “downright hostility at times”.

Cllr Jo Rust took over the position as cabinet member for people and communities.

Cllr Stuart Dark, leader of the Conservative opposition at the council and former leader of the council, said Cllr Joyce stepping back was a “big loss to local politics”.

“It is very telling that this council’s current leader has very publicly now lost the support of even the person who proposed him, only seven months ago,” he said.

“I and my previous administration team worked well with Charles’ Labour leadership team on major issues such as Covid, the QEH, Ukrainian refugees, cost of living etc and whilst our political compasses were, as you’d expect, often set slightly differently, our moral and professional compasses weren’t.

“We regularly agreed on more than we didn’t, above all the importance of working constructively with partners for the good of West Norfolk and striving to be aspirational and ambitious in keeping with our status as one of the largest local authorities in the country. Moaning at others or our ‘lot’ or being timid serves no one.

“Charles feeling he has to now take a step back from this leader and this administration is a big loss to local politics.

“However, his comments and the previous public comments by Cllr Kemp upon her resignation from this leader’s cabinet do back up what my group (40% of this council’s elected representatives) have been saying for some time, that the leader of an organisation sets ‘its drumbeat’ and for months now we have had one who will not engage many other councillors despite leading a minority administration, one who seemingly goes out of his way to pick needless public fights with influential partners, one trying to drive through un-costed ideas whilst publicly bemoaning the fact that this council has no money (which is not true), one who does not seem to be particularly interested in the plight of the most vulnerable and one who cannot or will not control members of his cabinet pursuing their own divisive political agendas.

“It will be interesting to see how the current leader reflects on Charles’s stinging comments, recent defections from his group and wider concerns as change is sorely needed, for all our sakes’.”