\n Kay Mason Billig said her Conservative council was pulling out of Labour’s much-vaunted reorganisation of local councils and the creation of mayor for the region.\n<\/p>\n
\n In an explosive speech at County Hall, she described Steve Reed, the secretary of state for local government who yesterday reversed his earlier decision to cancel this May’s council elections, as a “two-faced bully” and a “bastard”.\n<\/p>\n
\n Norfolk County Council leader Kay Mason Billig (Image: Denise Bradley)\n<\/p>\n
\n “I can tell you today that devolution and LGR [local government reform] are off,” she said.\n<\/p>\n
\n She said Mr Reed’s decision to reinstate the elections – after a legal challenge by Reform threatened to rule their cancellation as unlawful – left her council with no time to complete the legal process to formally create the new regional authority which would replace it.\n<\/p>\n
\n She added: \u201cWe cannot consent to a new statutory instrument that is necessary to set up our mayoral county combined authority in the months before our elections. So that\u2019s it.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n “Ten years of work potentially down the pan as a result of this incompetent government.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The U-turn has left the government in a fresh crisis and led to calls for Mr Reed to resign.\n<\/p>\n
\n Local government secretary Steve Reed (Image: Gareth Fuller\/PA Wire)\n<\/p>\n
\n Ms Mason Billig did not hold back in her assessment of the minister.\n<\/p>\n
\n She went on: \u201cI can now say what I like about the secretary of state, I’ve never met him or spoken to him but I know him to be a two-faced bully who doesn’t care about Norfolk, who doesn’t care about local government, who doesn’t even care about his own Labour councillors.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n She referenced the character played by the late comedian Rik Mayall\u2019s in The New Statesmen, saying : “I\u2019d really like to quote Rik Mayall at this point, what an utter, utter B-A-S-T-A-R-D.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Ms Mason Billig has faced criticism over her attitude to cancelling elections, which ministers had suggested to clear the path for local government reform.\n<\/p>\n
\n While she declined to explicitly call for a postponement, during a government consultation on the issue, she also did not speak in support of the elections going ahead.\n<\/p>\n
\n Instead, she warned that if they did, it could threaten the proposals to devolve powers to local councils and for the government’s plans to abolish and replace all eight of Norfolk’s councils.\n<\/p>\n
\n However, at Tuesday’s combustible meeting, she laid the blame squarely at Mr Reed’s feet.\n<\/p>\n
\n Council chaos as County Hall announced local government reorganisation is OFF (Image: Mike Page)\n<\/p>\n
\n Mrs Mason Billig alleged that Mr Reed had threatened Norfolk’s access to funding and new devolved powers unless she agreed to a delay.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cSteve Reed made threats – not to my face, but through various back channels,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI was left in no doubt that if we wanted the money and powers for devolution, then this council would have to agree to the postponements and deliver LGR.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n She said she had refused to formally request a postponement but had been forced to agree not to push for elections in order to secure Norfolk’s place on the government’s Devolution Priority Programme – the fast-track scheme that was supposed to deliver a new combined authority and elected mayor for Norfolk and Suffolk by 2026.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI cannot tell you how awful the last few months have been and the pressure that has been put on this council to comply with the government or face losing the improvements in funding that we fought so hard for. But it doesn’t matter any more, does it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n The dramatic announcement follows years of debate, budgeting and preparation ahead of local government reorganisation.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n The shake-up, which will see Norfolk’s seven district councils\u2019 absorbed into larger unitary models, was expected to be confirmed by the government this year, and come into action by 2028.\n<\/p>\n
\n Norfolk County Council had championed a single-council model, projecting savings of nearly \u00a340 million a year. Other authorities wanted two or three unitaries.\n<\/p>\n
\n However Ms Mason Billig\u2019s shock announcement has now thrown the entire plan into uncertainty.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n She added: \u201dUnder this government we were told that as a consequence we had to cooperate on LGR. Well, devo hasn’t happened.\n<\/p>\n
\n “The contract is broken, so I can tell you this morning that the Conservative group will not be assisting this government with LDR.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI don’t believe we have ever truly trusted this government to deliver on anything, because they just break their promises time and again , they always let us down.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe will fight this election, and the Conservatives will stand on our excellent record on administration.\n<\/p>\n
\n Later in the meeting, she claimed “no one wanted unitary government for Norfolk” and called on fellow councils across the county to back her stand.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt was a government idea imposed on us without notice,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt would create massive upheaval and there\u2019s no funding for the change.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe were expected to find the money ourselves while maintaining business as usual, and I expect the government to drop LGR like they dropped us.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI certainly won’t be doing anything to assist them with this fiasco.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI hope the other councils in Norfolk will join me in saying enough is enough.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Within hours, Conservative-led district councils showed their support.\n<\/p>\n
\n Daniel Elmer, leader of the Conservative group at South Norfolk Council (Image: Norfolk County Council)\n<\/p>\n
\n Daniel Elmer, the leader of South Norfolk Council, said: \u201cThe government promised investment and powers for Norfolk in exchange for LGR.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThey haven’t delivered it, it’s not clear to me that residents’ money should be spent on something they didn’t ask for unless those money and powers are put back on the table.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI don’t know why anyone should agree to LGR, which people didn’t vote for, unless those powers are put back on the table.\n<\/p>\n
\n He added: \u201cThis government has proved itself deeply incompetent again. It can’t stick at anything for more than five minutes and they can’t provide any certainty for residents.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI think residents appreciated blunt language, Kay is someone who says what she thinks and that’s a commendable quality.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Carl Smith, the Conservative leader of Great Yarmouth Council, also threw his weight behind Mrs Mason Billig\n<\/p>\n
\n Great Yarmouth Borough Council leader Carl Smith (Image: James Weeds)\n<\/p>\n
\n He said: \u201cThey have pushed back on the mayor and pushed back on the cancellation of the election. I never supported LGR.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI fully support her views, she\u2019s been very clear today in a position I fully support.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n However, others have pushed back on the scathing speech.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Steve Morphew, leader of the Labour group at County Hall, accused Ms Mason Bilig of taking out her frustration with the government on the people of Norfolk.\n<\/p>\n
\n Steve Morphew, leader of the Labour group at NCC (Image: Denise Bradley)\n<\/p>\n
\n He said: \u201cThis knee jerk overreaction could cost Norfolk many millions in much needed investment and the chance to finally get a set of new unitary councils worth the name \u2013 cost effective, value for money and accountable.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019m fed up with some of the things the government have done too but I\u2019m not taking it out on the people of Norfolk like the Conservatives.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cInsulting government ministers, however frustrated you are, is never sensible.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe want good homes, jobs, transport and services with the share of national funds we have long been denied by Conservative governments.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cDialogue not shouting into a bucket is essential.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Steff Aquarone, who is the Liberal Democrat MP for North Norfolk and a county councillor, said Ms Mason Bilig was \u201cthrowing her toys out of the pram\u201d and used the row to divert attention from a budget the council had met to discuss.\n<\/p>\n
\n North Norfolk MP Steff Aquarone (Image: Laurie Noble)\n<\/p>\n
\n He said: \u201cNorfolk Tories tried to chicken out of local elections – and now they\u2019re chickening out of local government reorganisation altogether.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHidden behind the bluster of the Conservative County Council leader throwing her toys out of the pram, today’s budget puts Norfolk in a perilous position: the \u00a350m sunk on the Western Link is lurking in the margins; the Government is yet to pick up the tab on Norfolk’s Special Educational Needs and Disability deficit.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cJust one change of heart by the government could bankrupt it – and the leader has just thrown a tirade of sweary personal insults at the Secretary of State.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kay Mason Billig said her Conservative council was pulling out of Labour’s much-vaunted reorganisation of local councils and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-430635","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}