Ben Bradley to stay on as Nottinghamshire Council leader as Independents demand he resigns

Coun Bradley has been given the full support of Conservtive members at County Hall.

But the opposition Independent Alliance group have have formally requested an extraordinary meeting to call for his resignation, accusing him of ‘letting Nottinghamshire down’, ‘squatting in County Hall’ and ‘failing to do the basics’ whilst trying to be elected as East Midlands mayor.

Claire Ward claimed the mayoral race for Labour last week, winning by around 50,000 votes and taking just over 40 per cent of the overall vote, with Coun Bradley in second place for the Tories with 29 per cent.

Ms Ward won in several districts which have voted for Conservative MPs in recent elections – including Coun Bradley’s own constituency of Mansfield.

He had previously promised he would step down from his jobs as council leader and MP for Mansfield if he won.

He wrote on X (formerly Twitter) following the defeat: “Unfortunately, despite a really strong local campaign, we couldn’t stop the national tide.

“I’m really grateful to the hundreds of people who have been working really hard for months to campaign and to make our case.

"I’m really sorry that we couldn’t win, those guys deserved more.

“Personally, obviously I’m really disappointed.

"Over the last two-and-a-half years I’ve worked to secure a huge amount of new powers and new funding for our region, to create an opportunity to deliver more and fix local challenges.

“It’s something I’m passionate about and, obviously, I’m really disappointed that I won’t get to lead it going forward.”

Following the loss, he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he has no plans to quit.

On Tuesday, May 7, Coun Keith Girling (Con), cabinet member for economic development, said Coun Bradley ‘had the Conservative group’s full support’.

But Independents said his position was ‘untenable’.

Coun Jason Zadrozny (Ash Ind), Independent Alliance leader, said: “Over the past few years, Ben Bradley has been entirely focused on getting elected as the new mayor.

"As a result, the council has failed residents over the state of our broken roads and pavements, education, our finances are in a parlous state and much more.

"They can’t even get the basics right.

“Ben Bradley’s position as council leader is untenable and it’s time he moved to one side and stopped squatting in County Hall.”

However, the Independents’ motion will not pass unless members of the ruling Conservative group also join with them.

An extraordinary meeting to discuss to motion could be held on Thursday, May 16.

Meanwhile, Ms Ward, a former Labour MP for Watford, began her four-year term as East Midlands mayor this week.

She will have powers over transport and economic development that were previously held by the government, and will control a budget of £38m per year.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer visited Mansfield last weekend to hail ‘a really important victory’ in the East Midlands.

The new mayor promised she would be a ‘champion for our region’, and said: “I am not prepared to accept just this devolution deal – it is just the start.”