The leader of Warwick District Council (WDC) has been told to look in the mirror after narrowly survived a vote of no confidence last night (November 11).

Cllr Ian Davison remains in charge at the Town Hall, but was helped by the fact the Liberal Democrats, Labour and Warwick independent councillors abstained from the vote.

The Green leader was backed by all his party councillors, but the Lib Dems have criticised the Conservative group's bid to oust him.

In a statement today, the Lib Dems said WDC would have been "thrown into chaos" had Cllr Davison been removed, as "no alternative" was put forward by the Tories.

"We believed that an administration of random councillors without a program would not be effective in the short time left to the next elections due in May," they said in a statement.

But they added the narrow victory was not a "ringing endorsement" for the leader who has been told to "reflect on why his leadership has resulted in no other party being prepared to work with him".

Brought forward by former leader Cllr Andrew Day, the no confidence vote was called after the Green-Labour coalition which has run the council since 2023 fell apart.

This came after the national Labour Party instructed all its local groups to sever ties with the Greens of its recent Zionism motion.

Lib Dem group leader Cllr Alan Boad said: "The last two weeks have seen Conservative, Labour and Green Party Group Leaders publicly disagreeing with each other via the local press.

"We have made it clear that we have never had confidence in Cllr Davison's leadership qualities, but ejecting him without having a viable plan for what follows would have been extremely irresponsible.

"At this stage, it is far better to wait until voters have their say at the ballot box next May on who they want to run the council.

"The council has a number of important decisions to make between now and next May, most notably on the Local Plan, and we will be consistently advocating for what is in the best interests of local residents.

"There is also crucial work to be done in Housing, and we are concerned that the new Portfolio Holder has no experience in this area."

WDC will now be led by a minority Green group.

'Easily Avoidable'

Following the vote last night, local Labour leader Cllr Jess Melrose released a statement.

"Following tonight's vote, I want to reiterate that this situation could easily have been avoided," she said.

"Warwick District Labour Group withdrew from the Green-Labour coalition last week because the Warwick District Green Group simply did not provide the unequivocal condemnation sought of the Green Party's policy equating Zionism with racism.

"This is about values and principles.

"The Warwick District Green Party have chosen not to disavow the motion. Instead, they continue to support a Green Party position which is anti-Semitic.

"In areas where the Green Party decided to disavow the motion and prioritise local communities, joint administrations have been able to continue.

"This enables them to continue to work in the best interests of their communities just as we would wish to do."

Olive Branch

At last night's meeting, the Labour group again reiterated that it would re-join the Greens at WDC if it clearly made a statement rejecting the Zionism motion.

Cllr Davison was given the chance to do so, but did not.

His closing remarks reiterated his dismay at the circumstances and acknowledged it would be better to have an administration with more council seats behind it but noted: "We haven't heard an alternative."

He stressed that it was "misleading" to claim that "anti-Zionism is automatically anti-Semitic", adding that the Greens "agree with the council's adopted definition of antisemitism – that "it is not inherently antisemitic to criticise the government of Israel".

Cllr Davison laid out a no-win situation where some would encourage him to "just say whatever national Labour want to say" while also telling him "not to be in hock to a national party".

Cllr Day said the response was a "fudge".

"Councillor Davison was given the opportunity to be clear about what could come if he made an empathic and clear statement. Once again he reverted to a fudge," he said.