Cllr Chloe Turner, leader of the Green group on Stroud District Council, has issued a statement explaining the group’s decision to end its informal cross-party cooperation arrangement with Labour.
The move means Labour councillors will no longer be invited to attend committee pre-briefings with Green members ahead of council meetings. However, the Green administration says it remains committed to working collaboratively with councillors from all political groups through the authority’s committee system.
Cllr Turner said: “In 2024, when Green councillors were re-elected to lead Stroud District Council, we discussed a possible alliance with Labour colleagues, to ensure that our administration (which was, at the time, four councillors short of a majority) could confidently deliver the priorities set out in the agreed Council Plan.
“Although our political groups had, in the past, worked collaboratively, along with the Liberal Democrats, as part of a ‘cooperative alliance’ at Stroud District Council, it became clear that the national Labour Party would not permit its councillors to enter into an alliance with Green councillors.
“Instead, since 2024, our Green administration has informally invited Labour colleagues to attend pre-briefings to discuss draft committee papers with Green and Liberal Democrat councillors ahead of meetings.
“Following the Council’s Annual Meeting in May, and at the start of a new civic year for the District Council, Green members felt it was appropriate to make a small change to our internal ways of working as an administration. This is to reflect the increasingly oppositional stance taken by the Labour group at the council over recent months, perhaps encouraged by national Labour’s attacks on the Green Party. Although Labour colleagues will no longer attend committee pre-briefings, we will of course continue to work closely alongside them at committee and council meetings, as we do with all other members, whatever their political affiliation.
“As Greens we are proud of the Committee system used at Stroud District Council, whereby decisions are taken by cross-party groups of councillors, which enables a collaborative approach to decision making, and allows all members to participate and shape the council’s decisions.
“This style of working contrasts with the Cabinet model adopted by most councils, and preferred by the Labour Government, where decisions are taken by a lead member from the administration, with other members only able to scrutinise decisions.
“Our Green administration remains committed to working collaboratively with members of all political groups and independent councillors, in the interests of all the residents, communities and businesses across Stroud district.”
