Lancashire's new independent county councillors reveal how they will operate

Azhar Ali stressed that free-thinking defines each of the individuals – and acknowledged that they may be approaching issues from “a different angle”.

However, the former Labour opposition group leader at County Hall – who resigned from the party last year after being suspended in the wake of comments he made about Israel, but retained his Nelson East division at this month’s local elections – said there would be matters in which all independent councillors would have an interest.

Meanwhile, one of the trio of independents who secured Preston seats on the county council says they would be happy to be part of a “broader independent block” within the new-look authority, which is now controlled by Reform UK.

Michael Lavalette also hinted at a possible “progressive alliance” involving the independents and, seemingly, the Green Party – after ruling out a formal arrangement with any of the other opposition parties.

The local election results represent a recent high for independent representation at County Hall. Since the turn of the millennium, there have always been a handful of politically non-affiliated members returned at each election until the 2021 poll – when there none.

However, four defections from Labour during the last administration over the war in Gaza – together with County Cllr Ali’s departure from the party – saw the independent tally reach five by the time votes were cast earlier this month.

Three of those four defectors were re-elected as independents this time around, while the fourth did not stand again.

The successful independent candidates each badged themselves as being part of an independent group for their area – Preston, Burnley and Pendle – during the election campaign.

Speaking of the possibility of co-operation between all of them now they have been elected, County Cllr Ali told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “We are seven individuals with a different agenda, but some common themes – and the main thing is to ensure the county council delivers for our residents.

“We want to ensure [improvements in] services like SEND [special educational needs and disabilities for children], which are in crisis, and get the investment needed to repair potholes and deliver school places – because there is a schools place crisis in parts of Preston and East Lancashire.

“So there is a common agenda – [including] to hold the new administration to account – but also to work collaboratively with them where we can to provide support. Because at the end of the day, whoever people voted for, they want delivery.”

To that end, County Cllr Ali said he was seeking a meeting with the new ruling Reform UK group “to see where there are things in common that we can be supportive of – but also to make sure they know there is a constructive opposition…which everyone would expect us to [provide]”.

‘PRESTON VOTED FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT’

County Cllr Lavalette told the LDRS that while there would likely be occasions on which the Preston independents might vote the same way as the shrunken Conservative and Labour groups – as well as the Lib Dems – they would never “formally” align with any of them, because of their past policies at a national level.

“They are the ones that have introduced austerity, they are the ones that have taken us to war over the years – and people have voted for something different. We are investigating whether there are possibilities [to form a block] with others,” he said.

The only other opposition group at County Hall is the four-strong Green Party, which – if it were to form an alliance with the independents – would create a group of 11, outstripping the numbers of any of the remaining individual opposition parties. The Green Party was approached for comment on the possibility.

County Cllr Lavalette, who now represents Preston Central East, said that while the Preston independents were often referred to by the “pro-Gaza” umbrella under which he and others stood at last year’s general election, they had a defined Lancashire manifesto for the local poll – even if it had national flavour such as a call for “welfare not warfare”.

He said their collective victory in three of Preston’s nine divisions – which equalled the seats secured by the Lib Dems in the city and exceeded the number won by Labour (one) and Reform UK (two) – felt like a “significant breakthrough” and an opportunity to “challenge Labour from the Left”.

County Cllr Lavalette, who previously served on the city council for a decade from 2003 – first as a representative of the Socialist Alliance, then the Respect Party, the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition and, latterly, as an independent – said he and his new independent colleagues were planning to work together not just within the corridors of County Hall, but on the ground, in order to benefit their three divisions.

“Each of them [Preston Central East, Preston City, Preston South East] have got the exact same issues and problems – we [represent] the poorest parts of Preston.

“Also, it might be that I can’t go to a [community] meeting one day, but [one of the other Preston independents] can – so we will try and make sure there is always a representative [attending anything to which] we are invited.

“We want to see investments in our parts of Preston and in Preston more generally and we want to be the best representatives we can – not the kind of politicians who get elected and then [say], ‘Come back and see us in four years from now.'”