Councillors clash at first meeting since Reform win

The new leader of Suffolk County Council said Reform UK had not "come to burn anything down" during the first meeting since the party took control.

Michael Hadwen was one of 41 Reform candidates to win a seat in the elections on 7 May, which saw a new party take charge of the authority after two decades of dominance by the Conservatives.

On Thursday, the county's 70 councillors came together at the annual general meeting.

Suffolk's Green Party leader Andrew Stringer said it was unclear what Reform's local policies were and vowed to hold the party to account, while Hadwen said he was disappointed at the "condescending tone" from opposition councillors.

"Reform hasn't come here to burn anything down or smash windows - we are here because we've been elected to deliver for our residents," he said.

"So, I'm very disappointed at the condescending tone from the opposition, but it's nothing I'm not used to.

"The key thing is being united in our delivery for the residents of Suffolk, and that's what we plan to do."

Stringer, leader of the Green Party in Suffolk and ward councillor for Upper Gipping, said: "We came in here asking questions of what this administration is going to do, and I think we learned less.

"I think there'll be an awful lot of people in Suffolk who will be very, very increasingly concerned.

"I don't want to spook anyone, but from what we've just seen in there, there are going to be cuts across the board. But we will be holding them to account."

The council will have an £850m budget, which can be used on things like adult social care, children's services, the fire service and highways.

Hadwen, a councillor for Felixstowe Clifflands, highlighted some of the key priorities for the administration, including improving roads and protecting front-line services.

He also described his "serious concerns" about Local Government Reorganisation (LGR), which he said needed to be addressed.

The government wants to scrap Suffolk's county, district and borough councils and replace them with three unitary authorities with more powers.

Hadwen argued opposition councillors needed to give him time to "get his feet under the desk" but added the party already had "policies and plans going back seven months".

"We've been building on how to tackle potholes, procurement, how to reduce the waste in adult social care while not cutting front-line services, and we are looking at innovative ways to support SEND provision," he said.

"So look, we've got tonnes of plans, and the public will hear every single one of them. We want scrutiny. We respect that."

And during the meeting, scrutiny is what he got, when quizzed by Richard Rout, leader of the Conservatives in Suffolk and Hardwick councillor, about his social media conduct.

In the past he made comments online which included saying that Enoch Powell "was right " and saying, after the Salisbury Poisoning , that Russia was not his enemy.

Rout said the comments had caused "a public and staff outcry" and this was "an opportunity to publicly address" them.

"He was given the opportunity to disown those comments, to clarify them. That he declined that, spoke volumes," he added.

After the meeting, Hadwen told the BBC that he had "addressed them many, many times" and was not going to be "playing politics" by engaging in a spat with opposition councillors.

"What I find really infuriating about politics is when people knowingly take things out of context and then try and spin it," he said.

"The context is clearly there. Anyone who has read it and understands the context has no issue with it."

High up on the agenda at the meeting was the Orwell Bridge and the congestion it caused when closed.

Two of the authority's three Labour councillors, Martin Cook and Colin Kreidewolf, put forward a motion asking the council to "reaffirm its resolve that a Northern Bypass be built".

They also called on the authority to set a timetable for submission of a business case to the government by the end of September.

Independent councillor Julia Ewart then put forward an amendment, seconded by Reform's Tony Love, instead asking for the focus to not be on just one solution.

She asked that all possibilities be considered, including a Northern Bypass route, another bridge crossing, a tunnel under the bridge and other methods of transporting freight.

The amendment was passed, which did not please Cook, who is the Labour leader in Suffolk.

"It's beggars' belief that the first act of Reform on Suffolk County Council is to sabotage progress on the Ipswich Northern Bypass," he said.

"Meanwhile, congestion in Ipswich and Felixstowe keeps making life more difficult for residents and business."

Another motion was put forward by the Green Party's Stringer and Robert Lindsay, asking Reform to back the council's translation services.

It came after election material was reportedly sent to homes claiming the previous administration had spent £283,000 on translation services for "those who refuse to integrate".

The council, however, said it had spent £240,000 on translation services such as written translations, spoken interpretation, and assistance for those with hearing and sight difficulties.

At the time Reform did not comment.

On Thursday, the motion was lost with 30 voting in favour of it but 38 voting against it.

Reform's Newmarket and Red Lodge councillor, Adrian Whittle, said the cost of translation services had risen "four-fold" since 2016, from £30,000 to £145,000 last year.

"We all recognise translation services have a role in statutory work, this is not in dispute," he said.

"But this motion tries to turn a routine operational cost into a moral virtue. Rising translation costs are a cost to the taxpayer and a rapidly growing one."

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