Labour's dithering in Gateshead turned into a work of art

A special Gateshead Council cabinet meeting was held on Thursday morning. It had been called as Labour deferred a decision as to whether or not to join in the North East devolution proposals. That was a decision supposed to be taken at the cabinet on 12 July. And what happened at this special cabinet meeting? Labour voted to defer a decision yet again, citing uncertainty surrounding the position of new government ministers on devolution and funding. This is dithering made into a work of art by Labour. We continue to have the huge uncertainty hanging over Gateshead’s position in the North East region. Are we in or are we out? We just don’t know, because Labour cannot take a decision.

We are continuing to head towards isolation despite the best efforts of Martin Gannon, the new Leader of the Council, to bring the Labour group back to the world of reality. Martin’s position has not been helped by his own position in March when he led the battle against the devolution proposals that saw Gateshead isolated in the first place. That led to a coup that toppled his own Leader Mick Henry. (Coups against Labour Leaders do work – sometimes!). Maybe that’s what worries Martin in the febrile atmosphere of the Labour Party at the moment.