Recommendations For Wrexham’s New Mayor & Deputy Approved – Politicising Of Nominations Criticised

A war of words over the nomination for Wrexham’s Deputy Mayor broke out today – with the current Mayor having a firm exchange with one councillor after the Labour group pulled their support.

Councillor Bernie McCann was nominated for the office of Mayor, and Councillor Andy Williams was nominated for position of Deputy Mayor in a brief report before Councillors this afternoon.

Such matters are a formality nodded through as nominations are sought by consultation across fellow Councillors with some guidelines that include considering seniority and attendance records.

Tradition in Wrexham sees the Deputy then becoming the next Mayor, assuming both win their seats in the forthcoming election on May 4th.

Labour Group abstain on the recommendations for new Mayor and new Deputy Mayor positions. Clr King stopped on public explanation as to why.

— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) March 22, 2017

The report was brought forward and Cllr King stood to reveal the Labour group’s ‘unusual position’ of not supporting the nomination of Cllr Williams as Deputy Mayor. However he was stopped in his tracks by Council Leader Mark Pritchard shortly after stating Cllr Williams ‘was very likeable, but…’

Cllr Pritchard raised a point of order saying he thought Cllr King was not going to refer to the report itself, adding: “I think it is personal and uncalled for, and I think he should sit down”.

Cllr John Pritchard, Mayor of Wrexham said he agreed, and that Cllr King could voice his opinion during the forthcoming vote.

Cllr King did not sit down, and stated he thought his view was important. The Mayor disagreed, again stating that there was a choice to vote for or against, or abstain.

In an already tetchy meeting after an earlier pay debate the persistence to make a point was not appreciated by those outside Cllr King’s group.

Unfortunately unlike Flintshire Council we here in Wrexham do not appear to have the embed video function enabled despite using the same webcast provider – so you will have to click this link to watch the interchange rather than view inline on this page.

Clr Baldwin shouts ‘Well done Andy lad!’ (Councillor
Andy Williams) on possible new Deputy Mayor position – to round of applause in Chamber

— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) March 22, 2017

After the meeting we asked Cllr King what was the contents of his pre-prepared statement, and he allowed us to take the below picture of what would have been the full speech. Cllr McCann appeared to be having a candid exchange of views possibly in relation to this agenda item with Cllr King after the meeting, with others loudly protesting that such positions are ‘not political’ and this was ‘outrageous’.

The report does note that a unanimous vote at the Council’s AGM in May is desirable, as “The dignity of the Office of Mayor and of the Council generally would be impaired by any public disagreement on such a matter at the Council’s Annual Meeting.”

With the split shown today on the nominations, it remains to be seen if the dignity will be affected in such a manner.