Climate change vote angers Harrogate Green Party after North Yorkshire Council meeting controversy

Harrogate and Knaresborough Green Party has criticised ruling Tory members at North Yorkshire Council’s very first council meeting for "missing an opportunity to show that they want to work with others”.
By Graham Chalmers
Published 25th May 2023, 16:39 BST
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Green councillors saw red after the first full meeting of a new unitary local authority saw the Tory whip accused of pushing down a Conservative colleague’s hand during a vote on the environment.

The vote-affecting controversy happened after Independent Coun Cross proposed the job of championing climate change should be shared by Conservative Coun Haslam working in tandem with Green Coun Arnold Warneken.

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In an apology over the incident in which honorary Hambleton alderwoman Coun Bridget Fortune appeared to be physically shown how to vote with the Tories, Lower Wensleydale Tory councillor Tom Jones said he had suffered “a moment of youthful exuberance".

Arnold Warneken, Green Party councillor for Ouseburn Division, said: "This was a real opportunity for the ruling group to show that they want to work with others in order to help make the new council stronger." (Picture Jonathan Gawthorpe)Arnold Warneken, Green Party councillor for Ouseburn Division, said: "This was a real opportunity for the ruling group to show that they want to work with others in order to help make the new council stronger." (Picture Jonathan Gawthorpe)
Arnold Warneken, Green Party councillor for Ouseburn Division, said: "This was a real opportunity for the ruling group to show that they want to work with others in order to help make the new council stronger." (Picture Jonathan Gawthorpe)

He told the council chamber: “I have apologised to Councillor Fortune and I can assure you all she has given me a very very stern rebuke already.”

In the end, the motion was lost by 43 votes to 42 with every single Conservative opposing it and every member of the opposition supporting it.

Harrogate and Knaresborough Green Party and Selby and Ainsty Green Party Coun Arnold Warneken, representing Ouseburn Division, said: “Like many Greens I am used to working alongside others and establishing good working relationships even when we disagree occasionally.

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"This was a real opportunity for the ruling group to show that they want to work with others in order to help make the new council stronger.

"They comprehensively failed that task.”

The council’s leader, Coun Carl Les, said it would be inappropriate to comment on an ongoing investigation, but refuted Opposition claims that it illustrated the Conservative group’s three whips pressed councillors to vote in a particular way.

However, Leader of the Opposition, Coun Bryn Griffiths, has requested the matter be examined by the council’s monitoring officer over alleged breaches of the council’s code of conduct.

Coun Kevin Foster, the leader of the Green Group on North Yorkshire Council said Tory talk of working in collaboration with other parties was just that – talk.

Related topics:HarrogateTom Jones