There’s further political intrigue and argument at Cornwall Council after a resolution for a vote of no confidence in its Conservative leader Linda Taylor was lost, writes Local Democracy Reporter Lee Trewhela.

She has accused those who tabled it of holding a “personal vendetta” against her. They in turn have accused the council of a "stich up" and stopping the move just as it was about to reach the number of signatures needed for a vote, which if successful could have seen Cllr Taylor removed as council leader.

Cllr John Conway, who resigned from the Tory group earlier this year after calling Cllr Taylor a “dictator”, tabled the motion on Monday to remove her from office with Independent councillor and former leader of the council Julian German seconding. The motion needed 29 signatures needed to go to the vote.

The council’s interim monitoring officer Matthew Stokes gave a deadline of 5pm yesterday (Thursday, October 3) for signatures, when 27 had been collected, meaning the resolution has failed, though that hasn’t deterred those who say they have no faith in the leader.

“We are here wanting to deliver for Cornwall and things like this are a distraction,” Cllr Taylor told us. “You would have thought they would have got their numbers in place. It seems a bit of a reckless move reputationally by both Mr Conway and Mr German. I am pleased as there’s a sense here of let’s get on with business and not get restricted by alternative messages coming from Cllr Conway.”

One of the reasons Cllr Conway made the move was his belief that much of the dealings towards finding a financial partner to run Newquay airport were done behind closed doors with many councillors unaware of the details.

Cllr Taylor denies this: “The consultation has been extremely extensive. The overview and scrutiny committee has had so many briefings and the Chamber of Commerce has recently put out a very positive statement on the airport. We’ve been so open and transparent.

“There is another agenda here – Cllr Conway absolutely doesn’t like me. It’s a shame that he’s allowing valuable time to be taken up by what I think is a bit of a personal vendetta.”

However, Cllr Conway denies it’s a personal vendetta, though “I have no confidence whatsoever in her”. He added: “The fact Julian German has seconded it shows it’s not a vendetta.”

He says the motion for the vote of no confidence was not tabled properly. “The regulations don’t have a time limit on them. We asked people to forward emails to the officer in charge to get to the third of the councillors required for the vote. They [officers] then turned around and said they wanted everything in by 5pm last night. There is no constitutional time limit.”

An email from an officer to Cllr Conway stated: “As you will appreciate, with ordinary motions there is a deadline for receipt, although no such guillotine exists for the motion you have submitted. We cannot have the matter running on indefinitely, therefore the monitoring officer has asked me to confirm with you that the deadline in terms of the motion is 5pm tomorrow (Thursday).”

He said that he and Cllr German did not agree or respond to that. “What we are considering at present, because it was never accepted as a no confidence resolution, is we can put another one in. You can only put one no confidence resolution in in six months, but as the one we had wasn’t voted on we can have another one.

“What we’re looking at now is getting all 29 signatories and then sending it in that way around.”

Another opposition councillor, who did not want to be named, said: “This takes the biscuit for the worst stitch-up this council has done under the Tories where officers are now perceived, by many councillors, to be doing the political dirty work of the leader.

“Absolutely no councillors were told there was a time deadline on this. They’re making it up as fast as they’re going along. What will they say if the 29 or a larger number is reached? Can they really seriously say that it can’t go ahead?”

Cornwall Council itself hasn’t commented as it says the matter is political rather than operational. We understand that the motion has now reached the 29 signatures needed for the vote, though after the deadline.

A spokesperson for Cornwall Council said: “The proposer and seconder were advised on Wednesday morning that the required number of supporters needed to be obtained by 5pm on Thursday. The required number were not received, so the request was unsuccessful.

“There are no rules in the constitution preventing further attempts provided they meet procedural requirements.”