A motion of no confidence has been lodged against the current leader of the Isle of Wight Council — and could see the Conservatives returned to power.
Cllr Lora Peacey-Wilcox has been in charge of the authority for the past two years, taking control under the Alliance banner, but now faces a challenge to her leadership.
It comes after a turbulent period at County Hall, with two crucial cabinet positions vacated and five councillors — four from the ruling Alliance Administration — jumping ship to different groups.
The motion comes from former cabinet member, Cllr Chris Jarman, now leader of Empowering Islanders, who was ousted from his senior position after leaving the Alliance.
In it, he says the council has no confidence in Cllr Peacey-Wilcox’s ability to lead a properly functioning cabinet and council and looks to remove her from office.
In her place, Cllr Jarman would like to appoint the leader of the Conservative Group as the leader of the council — handing control to the Tories — with immediate effect.
The Conservative Group currently has an interim leader, Cllr Paul Brading, after its former leader, Cllr Joe Robertson stood down to focus his efforts on his campaign for the next general election after being announced as the Tory candidate for the East Wight MP seat.
Cllr Jarman then hopes a cabinet would be appointed with members from across the council chamber in recognition of the ‘no overall control’ nature of the authority.
If the motion is successful, the new leader would serve the remaining two years of the council term until May 2025.
It will be debated at the full meeting of the Isle of Wight Council next Wednesday, July 19.
In 2021, Cllr Peacey-Wilcox was backed by the new Alliance group to lead the authority — which was then formed of 18 independent, Green Party and Our Island councillors.
In the two years since then, the Alliance has dwindled to 13, becoming the second largest on the authority, behind the Conservatives who hold 16 seats.
The third largest group, Empowering Islanders, has been created as a breakout group from the Alliance with three former members and one Conservative.
It has previously said the Alliance was attempting to run the council in an ‘increasingly fragile mode’.
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