WOKINGHAM Borough Council’s leader is to step down to allow him to focus on the forthcoming general election.
Cllr Clive Jones is the Liberal Democrats’ candidate for the new Wokingham parliamentary seat, and the election is expected to be in the autumn of 2024 – it can be held no later than January 2025.
In order to help him concentrate on stating his case, Cllr Jones says he will hand over the leadership of the borough council to his deputy, Cllr Stephen Conway.
Cllr Prue Bray, a former leader of the Lib Dem group when it was in opposition, is to be the party’s deputy.
The changes are expected to be voted on at a meeting of Wokingham Borough Council to be held on Thursday, May 18.
In the recent local elections, the Lib Dems became the largest party, winning an additional three seats. With 26 seats, they are one short from a working majority, when the mayor’s casting vote is taken into account.
The Conservatives slipped to 22 seats, and Labour group gained two to become five councillors.
Announcing his decision on BBC Radio Berkshire’s breakfast show, Cllr Jones said: “I have been the Lib Dem parliamentary candidate since March last year. In May last year, I became the leader, so I was doing both of those roles together.
“Now I want to concentrate on being the parliamentary candidate because in the local elections, people were telling me they were pleased with what we were doing as a council and they really wanted a Liberal Democrat MP in Wokingham.”
He said Wokingham needed “real change”, and the party had delivered that by running the council over the past 12 months.
“We need a strong local MP who is going to stand up for the NHS, say we do have a problem with not enough doctors, not enough dentists and nurses, unlike John Redwood who said there isn’t a problem.”
Cllr Jones added: “I think we have the best opportunity ever to have a Liberal Democrat MP in Wokingham. In the election of 2015, the Conservative majority was 25,000. It’s now just over 7,000, and since then we’ve made lots of gains on the council.”
He also told the breakfast DJ that if elected he would be the Wokingham parliamentary seat’s first non-Conservative MP.
The next general election will be contested on new constituency boundaries for the first time. The Wokingham parliamentary seat will be rejigged to incorporate more of the borough, with other changes seeing a new Woodley and Earley seat replacing Reading East.
Wokingham and Maidenhead are both target seats for the Lib Dems as they seek to make gains in the so-called blue wall.
