Shockwaves at Sheffield City Council as Lib Dems decide to go into opposition
The party previously helped to run the council - alongside the Greens and Labour
The decision by Sheffield LibDems not to form part of the council’s administration has caused more shockwaves in city politics following the latest local election results.
The council’s second biggest party has issued a statement saying it has stepped back because of LibDem opposition to green belt housing and industrial site plans that are included in the draft Sheffield Local Plan.
The council will hold its annual meeting tomorrow, Thursday May 21, when a new council leader will be elected.
New Labour group leader Coun Fran Belbin, who was elected unopposed by her group following the loss of former leader Tom Hunt in Walkley, would be the favourite to take the job.
Labour remain the biggest group on the council despite the loss of 10 members to both Reform UK and the Greens on May 7.
The LibDems last year opposed the decision to follow a government inspectors’ ruling for the council to look at green belt sites because they said that not enough housing and industrial land was included in the plan.
Once adopted, the document will set out where all types of development can take place in the city until 2039.
Following a second round of public consultation that ended on May 5, the council’s key policy and resources committee and then the full council will have to decide whether to adopt it.
There have been huge protests about the issue and it was a big local factor in the elections which saw the LibDems retain five seats and lose six. That included two seats in Beighton, where group deputy leader Kurtis Crossthorn was one of the losers to Reform UK.
The LibDem statement said: “Thousands of people across Sheffield have engaged in good faith with the Local Plan consultation process, only to be ignored by Labour and Green councillors. We cannot work with parties who ignore residents in this way.
“Their coalition for this year only cements a deal to concrete over the green belt.”
Sheffield city Council has been under no overall control since 2021. Previously, the three biggest groups, including Labour and the Greens, have jointly run the council on a committee basis.
Key jobs such as committee chairs are split between parties on a proportionate basis.
The state of the parties is currently Labour/Labour and Cooperative 25, Liberal Democrats 22, Green Party 20, Reform UK 12, Sheffield Community Councillors 2, Independents 3.
Nathaniel Menday, who took LibDem Willis Marshall’s seat, now represents Woodhouse as an Independent. He was suspended from Reform UK following press coverage of his deleted social media history, which included pro-Nazi statements and imagery.
There are 84 councillors, so a total of 43 votes is needed for a policy to be carried at a full council meeting. Therefore, Labour and the Greens can still work together to form a majority.
The LibDem statement also said it would be a “disaster” if fourth biggest group Reform UK were to be the main opposition.
“We have already seen a taste of the chaos this will unleash on the city, with Coun Menday having been suspended from the party less than one week on from the elections.”
The statement pledged: “Liberal Democrats will take the fight to Reform and stand up for diversity and opportunity for everyone in Sheffield.”
LibDems say they will continue to support decisions they agree with but reserve the right to hold the Labour-Green coalition accountable.
The statement also said that Labour still has not regained the trust it lost over the street tree scandal and said that the election was dominated by “the failures of Keir Starmer’s Labour government”.
The full LibDem statement says: “After much consideration, Sheffield Liberal Democrats have decided not to form part of the City Council administration in 2026/27.
“Thousands of people across Sheffield have engaged in good faith with the Local Plan consultation process, only to be ignored by Labour and Green councillors. We cannot work with parties who ignore residents in this way. Their coalition for this year only cements a deal to concrete over the green belt.
“The local elections were dominated by the failures of Keir Starmer’s Labour government. We appear to be heading towards our seventh Prime Minister in a decade. In Sheffield, Labour lost the trust of communities during the tree scandal and have failed to learn from their mistakes.
“Over the last three years, Liberal Democrats have helped to stabilise the council’s financial position, overseen an expansion to the city’s recycling offer, and delivered major investments in the local environment such as Shire Brook Valley.
“However, the recent local elections were challenging; we lost some hard-working Liberal Democrat councillors and brilliant candidates. Moving forward, we feel we are best placed to be the progressive opposition group in Sheffield City Council.
“Reform being the main party of opposition in Sheffield would be a disaster. We have already seen a taste of the chaos this will unleash on the city, with Coun Menday having been suspended from the party less than one week on from the elections.
“Liberal Democrats will take the fight to Reform and stand up for diversity and opportunity for everyone in Sheffield.
“We remain committed to serving communities in our wards and across the city. We will offer a principled and progressive opposition, supporting decisions we think are good for the city and holding the Labour and Green coalition accountable where they are not.”