Both the borough’s main parties have firmly ruled out making an offer to secure Green councillor Charli Thompson’s vote for their candidate for council leader reports David Floyd

Barry Rawlings pictured outside Hendon Town Hall (credit Barnet Council) — Barnet Labour says leader Barry Rawlings (pictured) will “not allow international conflict to be imported into the running of the council” (credit Barnet Council)

Barnet’s two main political groups say that “policy differences” have prevented them from discussing a deal with the borough’s sole Green councillor as a potential leadership vacuum risks leaving the council in turmoil.

Both Barnet Labour and Barnet Conservatives confirmed today that they are not seeking a deal with newly-elected Green councillor Charli Thompson in order to see their candidate elected as leader at the council’s annual meeting on 18th May.

The two larger parties won 31 seats each in last Thursday’s vote, meaning that neither is in a position to form an administration without some kind of support from an opponent.

As Barnet Post reported yesterday, this deadlocked situation creates the possibility that the borough may not be able to elect a leader at all.

For their part, the Greens say no decision has yet been made about how Thompson will vote next Tuesday.

This comes as full boroughwide voting figures (see table below) reveal that the Conservatives took 35.4% of the total votes across Barnet, compared to Labour’s 27.5%.

This means the Tories took nearly 23,000 more votes. However, as things stand, this will have no direct impact on what happens next.

The Post contacted all three parties today in a bid to get a snapshot of the current situation.

“Significant differences”

A Barnet Labour spokesperson told us they were not seeking a deal with the Greens because: “There are significant policy differences which do not make this possible from the Labour group’s point of view.”

When asked to clarify the nature of the differences they said: “The leader of the Barnet Labour group gave an undertaking that he would not allow international conflict to be imported into the running of the council. Green Party positions are not consistent with that pledge.”

As things stand, the most likely outcome from next Tuesday’s meeting is that Labour leader Barry Rawlings will eventually be reelected as leader based on the mayor’s casting vote.

The Post asked Barnet Labour whether it was credible for Labour to form an administration without making a deal with either opposition party given that it secured far fewer votes than the Conservatives last week.

The spokesperson said: “We don’t know what the outcome of the annual meeting will be, however, the democratic system we have is first past the post, not proportional representation.”

“Unbridgeable differences”

A spokesperson for Barnet Conservatives told Barnet Post that they were also not seeking a deal with the Green councillor, in their case due to “Unbridgeable differences in policy”.

When asked to elaborate on what these differences were, the spokesperson said: “The parties’ different stances on the matter of the war concerning Israel and Palestine, certain climate change matters and liberalisation of drug use but most of all, their party leader’s response on the police actions following the Golders Green attack.”

On what the Conservatives’ approach to resolving the issue of who leads the council would be, the spokesperson said: “The council’s constitution gives Labour an advantage through the mayor’s casting vote. We will ensure full attendance from our group on Tuesday and be prepared to capitalise on any gap in Labour’s numbers.”

“No final decision”

Asked about their approach to negotiations, a spokesperson for Barnet Greens said: “Barnet Greens’ approach is to take things on a case-by-case basis and focus on what’s best for Barnet residents.

“Over 47,000 people voted Green in this election, and we take that responsibility seriously. We were elected to push for greater transparency, stronger community involvement, and a different way of doing local politics, and that’s what we intend to do.”

When questioned on how Thompson planned to vote at next week’s meetings, the spokesperson said: “No final decision has been made regarding next week’s vote. Any decision we make will be guided by our values, what we believe is best for residents, and whether there is a genuine willingness to move away from politics as usual and the status quo in Barnet.”

Party	Total Votes	Vote Share
Conservative	102,246	35.4%
Labour	79,353	27.5%
Green	47,038	16.3%
Reform UK	43,034	14.9%
Liberal Democrats	13,098	4.5%
Independent	2,678	0.9%
Rejoin EU	1,380	0.5%
TUSC	128	0.0%
Total	288,955

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