Youngest Tory Councillor Leads Conservative Reset in North Somerset
One of North Somerset’s youngest councillors has taken over as the leader of its Conservative opposition group.
Michael Pryke (Cleveland Walton), 26, is the second youngest member of the council and was just six years old when his predecessor Nigel Ashton became group leader. After 20 years of Mr Ashton leading the Conservative group, including running the council from 2007 until 2019, Mr Pryke said: “He felt it was time to hand on to a different generation.”
At a council meeting on May 12, Mr Pryke said the Conservatives would be “sharper and tougher” in scrutinising the council and would form a shadow cabinet. Conservative councillors also relocated from their normal spot on the curved benches at the end of the council chamber to the seats directly opposite the council leader.
Mr Pryke said: “Residents across North Somerset are increasingly asking very simple questions: ‘Who is speaking for us? Who is standing up for towns and villages who feel ignored? Who is prepared to officer that serious alternative?’ From today, the answer is this new-look Conservative group.”
Council leader Mike Bell said: “It’s really pleasing to see that, after seven years in opposition, the Conservatives are awake and with us.”
The first act of the Conservatives with Mr Pryke as leader was actually to support the administration’s plans to grant Live Nation a contract to run the Tropicana as a 10,000-person capacity venue. He said the Conservatives had “gone on a journey” over the scheme and would continue to ask questions, but he told councillors sceptical of the plan: “I dare to dream that perhaps we might just be getting this one right.”
Mr Pryke said he had told Liberal Democrat council leader Mike Bell that the Conservatives would be a “constructive friend” to the administration, but that there would be points where they would disagree. North Somerset Council is run by a partnership administration made up of the Liberal Democrats, Labour, Greens, and Portishead Independents.
With 14 Conservatives and allied independent councillors in the Conservative group, they are the largest political group on the council. Mr Pryke was elected to North Somerset Council in the 2023 local elections alongside Luke Smith, who represents the neighbouring ward of Clevedon West, after a campaign centred on reversing the controversial wiggly lines on Clevedon seafront. The council removed the unpopular road markings last year.
Mr Pyrke also paid tribute to Mr Ashton for his “dedicated” service to North Somerset as Conservative group leader. He said: “He has led this authority for over a decade during some of the most difficult periods local government has faced in modern times, took many a difficult decision, defending the council’s interests for many years from financial pressure from Westminster, and never lost sight of the importance of strong local leadership.”