Shock as well-known sector figures lose their seats
County Councils Network members are reeling from news that their chair David Williams (Con) has been ousted from his Hertfordshire CC seat by just 41 votes, meaning he also lost his national chairmanship.
Elsewhere, other longstanding local government figures from both main parties have also been unseated or face leadership challenges locally.
Although the Conservatives secured a majority of 14 in Hertfordshire, their leader Cllr Williams, who has been CCN chair since 2019, was narrowly beaten by Liberal Democrat candidate Paul de Kort in his seat of Harpenden North East by 2,063 votes to 2,022.
CCN’s executive committee will now work with the Conservatives, which remain the network s largest political group, to put in place an interim leader ahead of an internal election. A new chairman elect will be formally confirmed in September.
Oldham MBC has admitted that flexibility has been applied in its area to interpretation of guidelines on who should be vaccinated first by putting rough sleepers among those at the top of the list along with the over 80s.
Guidelines from the Joint Committee on Vaccine and Immunisation (JCVI) state that areas should currently be prioritising care home residents and staff, those aged over 80 and frontline health workers and carers, while the ‘clinically extremely vulnerable’ should be vaccinated along with the over 70s in the next priority cohort.
However, Oldham Council and NHS Oldham CCG made the decision to vaccinate rough sleepers and those living in shelters as a priority now. Zahid Chauhan (Lab), a local GP who is also Oldham cabinet member for health and social care, started vaccinating homeless people at a clinic he has organised yesterday.