Lib Dems withdraw from council leadership contest

The Liberal Democrats have stepped aside from the leadership contest at Sheffield Council, saying they will instead be a "principled and progressive" opposition.

A new leader is set to be elected on Thursday after Labour's Tom Hunt lost his seat at the local elections earlier this month.

Since the vote, Labour now holds 25 seats on the council, the Lib Dems have 22 and the Greens 20, meaning no one party is in overall control. There are also 13 Reform UK councillors and four Independents.

However, the Lib Dems have now announced, ahead of the meeting, that "after much consideration" they will not form part of the council administration.

With Lib Dem leader Martin Smith not putting his name forward, it leaves Labour leader Fran Belbin or Green Party leader Angela Argenzio.

Ahead of the elections the Lib Dems have campaigned heavily against the Local Plan, which will see 3,500 new homes, secondary schools and cemeteries built on 14 green belt sites in the city.

The council operates with a committee system and Labour, the Lib Dems and Greens all identified sites and worked together on the plan, but the Lib Dems later publicly spoke against it.

In a statement, the Lib Dems said: "Thousands of people across Sheffield have engaged in good faith with the Local Plan consultation process, only to be ignored by Labour and Green councillors.

"We cannot work with parties who ignore residents in this way. Their coalition for this year only cements a deal to concrete over the green belt."

Both Labour and the Greens said all available opportunities to develop brownfield sites had been explored and if councillors had rejected the Local Plan it could have led to even more building.

Both Labour and the Lib Dems suffered heavy losses in the local elections. In the 2024 elections, Labour won 39 seats but fell to 25 in May and the Lib Dems saw their 29 seats reduced to 22.

By contrast, the Greens increased their seats from 13 to 20 while Reform went from having one councillor to 13.

The Lib Dem statement added: "The recent local elections were challenging, we lost some hardworking councillors and brilliant candidates. Moving forward, we feel we are best placed to be the progressive opposition group in Sheffield Council.

"We remain committed to serving communities in our wards and across the city. We will offer a principled and progressive opposition, supporting decisions we think are good for the city and holding Labour and the Greens accountable."

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