Until recently, Labour had a commanding majority on Newcastle City Council. Now, they are a minority administration which, this week, lost a key vote on plans for the city in the years ahead. Though they have lost some seats in recent local elections, the biggest wrecking ball applied to Labour's majority has actually come from within Labour itself.
Over the river in Gateshead, we are rather used to a bipolar political system in the council chamber. Labour and the Lib Dems hold all the seats other than one councillor who was elected as Labour but went independent in September last year. No other parties are represented on the council. Indeed, the last time there was a Conservative on Gateshead Council was back in 1996. His seat went Lib Dem in that year.
Back over the Tyne to Newcastle and there is a kaleidoscope of parties on the council including Labour, Lib Dems (the official opposition), one Conservative, Greens, Newcastle Independents and the East End and Associates Independent Party. This latter group is made up of the former Labour Leader Nick Kemp and six former Labour councillors. It is all something of a mess as Labour tries to run the authority without a majority while their former comrades are taking shots at them.
There are all-out local elections next year in the city under new boundaries which are probably not favourable to Labour. Whether or not the Labour administration can survive the next 11 months without collapsing is the big unanswered question.
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