Tameside Council leader resigns! Labour NEC step in to take control of council.

 

Councillor Ged Cooney

Within the last week, both the Chief Executive of Tameside Council and the leader of the council, have resigned their positions as the council descends into havoc and chaos. According to press reports, Labour’s NEC have now stepped in to take control of the Labour group and will now appoint a new council leader, to run Tameside Council.

As with most things within Zanu-Labour controlled Tameside Council, there may be far more to the resignation of the Chief Executive, Sandra Stewart, and the council leader Ged Cooney, than the public is being told about.  The Chief Executives salary of nearly 187K, was far higher than both the UK Prime Minister and Sue Gray.

It doesn't seem entirely fair that Sandra Stewart should carry the can for the failures in the local authority's children services department. As the Chief Executive of TMBC, and the council's chief legal officer, Sandra Stewart didn't run children's care services in Tameside that have been repeatedly found to be inadequate by Ofsted. This has led some Tameside councillors to suggest that she’s been used as a scapegoat because of a failure of leadership within Tameside Council and a reluctance to accept personal responsibility. Sandra Stewart is one of several Chief Executives of Tameside Council to have suddenly resigned within the last fourteen years.

In July 2022, the former Chief Executive of TMBC, Steven Pleasant, was forced to resign when he was found to have broken "impartiality rules". His resignation came at a time when there was a change in the Labour leadership of Tameside Council following a coup and plot hatched against Brenda 'the bulldozer" Warrington, which was led by the current Labour leader, councillor Ged Cooney. In April 2010, Janet Callender, the former Chief Executive of TMBC, resigned after being in her "dream job" for just five years. Her surprise resignation sparked a flurry of speculation about the motives for her departure and it was rumoured that she'd been forced out by Roy Oldham, the former Labour leader of Tameside Council.

Although Sandra Stewart has resigned as the Chief Executive of Tameside Council, she seems to have been pushed sideways into the job of the Chief Executive of the Greater Manchester Pension Fund which is administered by Tameside Council and chaired by the council Labour leader Ged Cooney. If Sandra Stewart has resigned following criticism about inadequate children services in Tameside, then some people may well wonder why she's been offered the job of Chief Executive of the £32 billion Greater Manchester Pension Fund?

Since her resignation, four Tameside councillors have resigned their official positions on the council. There have also been complaints about fear, bullying and intimidation of staff working for Tameside Council and criticism that the Labour leadership on Tameside Council "lack empathy" and are unwilling to accept personal responsibility for the state of children services in Tameside.

All three Tameside MPs, Angela Rayner, Jonathan Reynolds and Andrew Gwynne, have welcomed the departure of Sandra Stewart and have called on the council to "move on." They said the Ofsted commissioners report had revealed "unacceptable working practices and conditions for staff at the council."

It has been reported that Oldham council's chief executive Harry Catherall, is expected to take on the role of Chief Executive of Tameside Council on an interim basis.

Following a cabinet reshuffle, councillors John Taylor and Eleanor Wills - who were the cabinet members responsible for adult social care and inclusivity and population health and wellbeing - have been replaced by Longdendale councillor Gary Ferguson and Mossley councillor, Tafheen Sharif.  Councillor Sharif recently stated that she had refused to accept the cabinet post that had been offered to her.