By Julia Penhaligon

Any doubts about how long the post-election tensions between Cornwall’s Liberal Democrats and Mebyon Kernow might last have been resolved, with the award of a £5,224.51 annual pay bonus to MK’s leader, councillor Dick Cole.

Councillor Cole was elected this morning (Tuesday,) in his absence, to chairmanship of the crucial constitution and governance committee.

The three Liberal Democrat councillors on the committee all voted for him, as did the Independent, Conservative and his own MK substitute councillor Loveday Jenkin.

The vote appears to bury the hatchet which was evident at the first full council meeting last month, when the three MK councillors all abstained in the vote for the council leader, Liberal Democrat Leigh Frost.  

MK had been smarting from the Lib Dems’ election decision to field candidates in all 87 divisions, including MK target seats - a hyper-aggressive strategy which simply split the “progressive” vote and delivered (at least) an extra three Reform UK councillors at the expense of three highly competent MK candidates.

Some councillors have questioned whether a chairman can be elected in absentia.  The council’s constitution appears to be silent on the issue. County Hall’s top lawyer, Paul Grant, was taking part in the meeting and raised no objections.

Mebyon Kernow's Dick Cole and the Conservatives' Jordan Rowse are chair and vice-chair of Cornwall Council's constitution and governance committee

Reform UK proposed an alternative, their own councillor Kevin Towill, but the vote went 6-3 in favour of councillor Cole.

Conservative councillor Jordan Rowse, who in the previous administration had distinguished himself as a capable council vice chairman, was elected unanimously as vice chair of the constitution and governance committee.

juliapenhaligon@cornwallreports.co.uk