Cllr Mark Pritchard re-elected Wrexham Council Leader

Cllr Mark Pritchard will continue in his role as Leader of Wrexham Council following a vote in the Guildhall yesterday afternoon.

The result was not unexpected with Cllr Prichard leading the largest group on the council following the democratic vote from the people of Wrexham last year in the local council elections.

Following those council elections the two independent groups merged to form the mega ‘Independent Group’. Shortly after they joined forces with the Conservative Group to form a majority to rule the council.

The role of Leader is decided via an election at the Full Council. Conservative Group Leader Cllr Hugh Jones formally nominated Cllr Mark Pritchard for the Council Leader role, and was seconded by Cllr David A Bithell.

No other names were put forward, so Cllr Pritchard stood unopposed, and was formally voted in by 27 votes to 12* with one councillor abstaining.

The Leader has a range of functions including chairing Executive Board meetings, authority to appoint representatives of the Council on outside bodies where those outside bodies relate to Executive Functions of the Council, and final approval rights over who attends Royal Garden Parties.

The process is slightly different for the Deputy Leader role, with the council rules stating it is an appointment in the gift of the Council Leader, who designates one of the members of the Executive Board as the deputy.

The matter was dealt with via now Leader Cllr Pritchard nominating Cllr David A Bithell for ‘election’, a move that was seconded by Cllr Hugh Jones. The nomination was unopposed for the ‘election’ (although it was unclear what would have happened if another was put forward). A vote was held with Cllr Bithell winning 27 votes to 18* against, and one councillor abstaining.

(*There have been some queries – again – about the manner of counting of votes in the chamber and accuracy of figures given out. This is not for the first time, as below from the Council Leader in March

Council Leader queries the vote counts in meetings, Mayor points to Officers who conduct counts. Mayor doesn't seem convinced on previous voting figures 👀

— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) March 15, 2023

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