THE LEADER of the Harlow Labour Group has commented on the increasing number of portfolio holders in the Tory cabinet at Harlow Council as well as the “removal” of the deputy leader, nine months after the leader also stepped down.

Councillor Chris Vince said: “It doesn’t seem that long ago that the Labour leader of the Council Mark Ingall was criticised for his decision to include a new portfolio holder role for equality and diversity, which at the time brought the number in the cabinet up to eight, with the then shadow finance lead Cllr Perrin leading the charge.

I wonder if perhaps the Conservatives ought not have kept the role following the recent news that their Councillor in Bush Fair was sacked following vile racist and homophobic tweets?

However, here we are only 14 months into this Conservative regime and the same Cllr Perrin has increased his cabinet to nine, adding an additional cost to the council to go with the £11,000 the Bush Fair by election is going to cost. With a party who have already spent the reserves, I have to wonder where they’re going to find the ‘efficiency savings’ to cover this.

Equally just over six months after their leader Andrew Johnson stepped down it seems that the turmoil within the leadership of the local Conservative party continues, this time it is deputy leader Joel Charles who finds himself removed unceremoniously from his role.

All of these inner power struggles sadly take away focus on the people of Harlow all Councillors are elected to represent.

This recent announcement about the changes in the cabinet haven’t just come at the 11th hour but rather the 13th as we had our first full council meeting last week.

As leader of the opposition my task is to prepare a team to shadow the cabinet. It would have been nice to know they intended to make those changes in advance.