The City of York Council is a unitary authority with all the seats coming up for election on May 5. It has a minority Lib Dem administration at present – there are 20 Lib Dem councillors, 18 for Labour, seven Conservatives and two Greens. This is obviously a key Labour target – although some of the Lib dem wards currently have Labour in third place. The Haxby and Wigginton Ward, for instance, looks like one where the Conservatives rather than Labour could gain seats from the Lib Dems. Then there is the prospect of the Green Party splitting the Socialist vote.
The Lib Dems claim that amendments proposed by Labour councillors would show a lower priority for road repairs.
The Conservatives favour a bold approach of shared services and using alternative providers so that key council services are not merely protected but improved despite the requirement to lower costs. Certainly there will plenty of scope for this although in fairness to the Council the savings required have been found by cutting admin and more contracting out rather than by cutting services. Libraries and Children's Centres will not be closed. This didn't stop demonstrators disrupting the meeting – with the applause of Labour councillors.