When York’s new Lord Mayor took his place as guest of honour at the official civic party lunch today, there were several people notable by their absence.
Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Nigel Ayre and the rest of his group had boycotted the mayor making lunch.
They chose to stay away over what they regarded as a stitch-up between Labour and the Conservatives over the allocation of the mayoralty.
Cllr Martin Rowley, a Conservative, took over as Lord Mayor today, succeeding Labour’s Cllr Margaret Wells.
Usually all the city councillors take their place at the official lunch, held at York Assembly Rooms on Blake Street, now an Ask restaurant.
A York Lib Dem group spokesperson said: “Whilst we wish Cllr Rowley and the new civic party well for the coming year, and have no doubt he will perform his duties admirably, the Liberal Democrat group felt unable to attend the lunch because Conservative and Labour councillors broke with tradition by coming to a behind closed doors agreement that allowed the Conservatives to skip the usual rotation and take up the Lord Mayoralty this year.
“Our decision not to attend the lunch reflects our disappointment at this arrangement agreed between Labour and the Conservatives and we made it known in advance that we would not be attending the lunch.”
In response, Labour deputy group leader Cllr Pete Kilbane said: “It beggars belief that the Liberal Democrats would boycott the reception for the new Lord Mayor, the civic party and their guests.
“We are bewildered by their decision to put petty party politics above civic duty, especially given the gravitas of the occasion, and its importance to the history of York.
“It is frankly insulting to all those present, especially the honoured guests, to whom they should apologise unreservedly.”
He also took issue with the “behind closed doors” description, saying the decision around points allocation for this year’s Mayor went through the executive and full council.
Cllr Chris Steward, leader of the Conservative group, told YorkMix: “The Lib Dems seem obsessed with ‘secret deals’, there have been none whatsoever.
“In 2019 the Conservative group was due to provide York’s Lord Mayor but could not purely because the only candidate available under the rules could not fulfil the role due to their work commitments.
“The Lib Dems are the first to shout that we must make allowances to be inclusive for anyone’s job but sadly they totally ignored this.
“Rather than delay the Conservative picking of a Lord Mayor the Lib Dems simply took away the points. The Labour Group now in power decided this had been the wrong decision by the Lib Dems and simply reinstated the Conservative points.”