Proposals to permanently scrap deputy cabinet member positions voted down at Sunderland council meeting

The paid roles were the focus of part of the local authority’s latest full council meeting at City Hall, where elected councillors meet to hold debates and vote on policies.

New Labour council leader, Michael Mordey, recently announced that deputy cabinet members would not form part of his ‘slimmed-down’ cabinet, and that the changes would save the local authority money.

However, opposition Liberal Democrat councillors launched a motion at full council on June 19, 2024, seeking to make the changes permanent.

This included a vote on “deleting” reference to deputy cabinet members in the council’s constitution.

Councillor Paul Edgeworth, leader of the Wearside Liberal Democrats, said the motion represented a “short, sensible amendment to the constitution”.

Cllr Edgeworth added: “We know that deputy cabinet members are total non-jobs that have been used as an excuse to dish out special responsibility allowances to Labour councillors and to use taxpayers money to buy loyalty for leaders of the Labour Group.

“For many years they weren’t even able to actually deputise for cabinet members and when posts were left vacant under (former council leader) Graeme Miller because he couldn’t fill them, there was no impact on the functioning of the cabinet or council”.

Cllr Edgeworth added the roles were not needed and that the motion should be considered as the Labour Group had previously brought forward amendments to the constitution “without any consultation with opposition groups”.

Councillor Michael Mordey, leader of Sunderland City Council, said the Labour Group would be opposing the Lib Dem motion, and described it as a “waste of time”.

Cllr Mordey said: “The Labour Group will be opposing the amendment for the simple principal reason that it is not the opposition’s job to amend the constitution.

“They are the opposition and it is the majority group who runs this city, we have been trusted by the people of this city year after year by winning election after election to run this city.

“It’s a moot point in itself anyway because any future majority could come back and reinstate the positions.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate that we bind the hands of any future incumbent leader who might want to have deputy cabinet members.

“They did play a role in the council and contributed to the work of the council, so I ask the Labour Group and ask council to reject this stupid waste of time amendment”.

Labour councillor Iain Scott, a former deputy cabinet member for Dynamic City, also hit back at claims that the positions were “non-jobs”.

Cllr Scott said: “Having sat in that position up until recently myself, I think on behalf of my fellow deputy cabinet members I would like to say it’s absolutely not a true depiction of what was entailed within the role.

“It’s a very busy fulfilling role, again I’m sure that those that I have worked with in the University of Sunderland board of governors would attest to that, with the amount of work that has gone in to improve that relationship […] and amongst all the other cabinet roles that we undertook.

“I’m very sure that their roles were just as busy as mine”.

Conservative councillor Michael Dixon said the Conservative Group would vote for the Lib Dem motion and that the deputy cabinet member allowances, while recommended by an independent panel, were “excessive”.

Cllr Dixon added the allowance of more than £12,500 per annum had been an issue for Conservative councillors for years and “could have been spent so much better”.

Cllr Dixon told the meeting: “I’m pleased to note that a more enlightened approach is being made by the current leader of the council.

“The money saved with these posts being dropped can be constructively used elsewhere and not before time.

“The decision to create the posts from the outset has proved controversial and I personally have been disappointed, though not that surprised, that previous leaders of the council did not respond to past concerns”.

Cllr Dixon told the meeting that without the Lib Dem motion being agreed the “door would be open” for the posts to return in future, along with the “unacceptable extent of the allowance paid”.

Cllr Paul Edgeworth, closing the debate, said there was no issue with the “quality of the people” in the deputy cabinet members positions, but that issues were linked to “the job itself”.

He added that the council’s constitution was the responsibility of the “whole council” and not just the majority Labour Group.

After being put to the vote, the Lib Dem motion was defeated after failing to win majority support across the council chamber.

The council’s constitution states deputy cabinet members “assist the work of the cabinet” but are “not members of the executiveand are not entitled to vote at meetings of the executive”.

Key parts of the role, according to the constitution, include “leadership support responsibilities”, “attending briefings and other related activities”, “adding capacity to one or more of the cabinetportfolios” and “representing the portfolio whenever required”.

Sunderland City Council’s current cabinet of senior councillors does not include deputy cabinet members, but the roles could still be brought back under the council’s constitution.

According to council documents, the annual special responsibility allowance for a deputy cabinet member is £12,556.

Council leader Cllr Michael Mordey previously said the removal of deputy cabinet members in 2024/25 would save the council around £45,000 in special responsibility allowances.