With the Isle of Wight council election results returning no overall control (NOC), we take a brief look at what a NOC council means and how it could affect the Island.
Following an election, the party with 50 per cent of the seats, plus one, takes control of the administration and become the ruling party, setting the policy agenda and making cabinet decisions.
As no party or group has 50 per cent plus one seats, the Island Conservatives with 18 seats and being the largest party could form a minority administration.
Other councils with NOC
Out of 398 councils, prior to the 2021 election in the UK there were 31 NOC councils.
Of this number, ten were Conservative minority administrations, nine were Labour minority administrations and four Liberal Democrat minority administrations. There were also four known coalitions.
This number halved in the 2021 elections, with 14 councils now in the UK with no overall control.
Can it be a good thing?
According to Local Government Information Unit (LGIU) there is evidence that NOC councils can be effective.
Senior Policy researcher, Ingrid Koehler, explains,
“In practice, NOC councils can work really well and help politicians come together about local issues without spending too much time on party political issues.
“In other NOC councils, there is constant political jostling.”
For many, the idea of an Isle of Wight full council meeting without political point scoring is something that would be very attractive.
NOC councils: Good track record of getting business done
Chief Executive of LGIU, Jonathan Carr-West, adds,
“Councils in No Overall Control is a quirk of local authority governance that can be confusing for citizens. But it doesn’t mean that no one’s making decisions.
“In most cases one party will be able to form a cabinet, either with support from other parties or because the other parties do not agree on enough to effectively oppose them.
“That might sound unstable but in reality NOC councils have a pretty good track record of getting business done effectively.
Plan for a minority council
Island Conservatives made an early move (Sunday), stating that they planned to push for Conservative minority control.
However, ahead of that, at the Annual Meeting on 26th May, they’re attempting to get others (non-Conservative councillors) to join them, to enable them to form a majority.
An Independent coalition?
We should learn in the coming days whether any non-Conservative candidates have decided to join the Conservatives to help form a majority council.
Or, whether alternatively, at least 20 of the non-Conservative councillors have agreed to form a group to take control of the administration.
What will happen?
News OnTheWight understands there have been lots of meetings and discussions taking place since Friday’s results were announced.
Time will tell what the Island’s newest round of councillors decide to do, but in the meantime, we’re all on tenterhooks.
You can read Ingrid’s pre-election report about NOC councils on the LGIU Website.
Image: Kraken Images under CC BY 2.0
