All change at council as Labour and Plaid prepare to choose new leaders

Nicholas Thomas – Local democracy reporter

The Labour and Plaid Cymru groups in Caerphilly County Borough Council are both preparing to choose new leaders.

Plaid’s Lindsay Whittle has left the local authority after winning a seat in the Senedd at the recent Caerphilly by-election.

Meanwhile, Cllr Sean Morgan stepped down as council leader and quit the Labour Party at the beginning of that by-election campaign period, citing disagreements over candidate selection.

Council meetings have resumed this week following the conclusion of the Caerphilly by-election – which had been triggered by the death of Labour MS Hefin David.

Mr Whittle, who has spent 49 years in local government representing the Penyrheol area, emerged victorious in that by-election, which – as was widely expected – ended up being a two-horse race between Plaid and Reform UK.

Resigned

After the result, he resigned from Caerphilly Council because of recent rules preventing Senedd Members from also serving as local authority electees.

The borough’s Plaid group has not yet chosen Mr Whittle’s successor, and its second in command – Aber Valley ward councillor Charlotte Bishop – is understood to be serving as acting leader until the group meets next week to make a formal appointment.

In the early days of Labour’s by-election campaign, Cllr Morgan announced his shock resignation from the party and subsequent departure from the council’s top job.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service at the time, he accused party officials of a “fix” in the candidate selection process, through which the council’s deputy leader, Cllr Jamie Pritchard, was cast aside.

A Welsh Labour spokesperson responded by saying the party had “robust” processes for selecting candidates.

The eventual Labour hopeful, Richard Tunnicliffe, slipped to a distant third in the by-election, which proved a disappointing campaign for the party and ended its 26-year ownership of the Senedd’s Caerphilly seat.

Appointment

With Cllr Morgan now sitting as an independent representative of the Nelson ward, Cllr Pritchard is leading the Labour-controlled Caerphilly Council on an interim basis.

He is also currently heading up the Labour group, and said he had put himself forward as a candidate for the full-time post.

The election process to choose a full-time Labour group leader has not yet concluded, but it is understood an appointment is expected before the next full council meeting – currently scheduled for Tuesday November 11.

Separately, Caerphilly Council will organise a by-election for the vacant Penyrheol ward council seat which Mr Whittle held previously.