Labour councillor reignites feud with Newcastle Council and rebels over winter fuel payment cuts

Jane Byrne left the council’s cabinet in October 2023, alleging at the time that she could not “trust” officers, and has now accused the authority of failing to respond fully to her complaints

A Labour councillor who accused civic centre officials of “undermining” Newcastle City Council has reignited her row with the authority.

Jane Byrne left the council’s cabinet in October 2023, alleging at the time that she could not “trust” officers. Now, 12 months on and as the local authority grapples with the fallout of a bullying allegation against its former leader Nick Kemp, she has now accused the council of failing to conclude investigations into her complaints.

The council has insisted that it has investigated the Monument ward representative’s concerns and that none were upheld, though admitted that it had not yet responded to requests for “further clarity”. As Karen Kilgour was appointed as Coun Kemp’s successor as the council’s Labour leader on Wednesday night, Coun Byrne then rebelled against her party in two votes relating to the Government's cuts to winter fuel payments.

Sources within the civic centre told the Local Democracy Reporting Service last October that Coun Byrne had been asked to leave her post as cabinet member for transport before she made an explosive social media statement announcing she was quitting. That incident came just a couple of weeks after the council’s chief executive had faced questions over whether bullying or a “toxic” culture existed in the city’s corridors of power, concerns that have resurfaced in the last month following the complaint made against Coun Kemp by director of investment and growth Michelle Percy.

In a letter sent to fellow councillors and posted on social media this Tuesday, Coun Byrne said she now believed that “by remaining silent I risk giving credibility to the anonymous smears circulated when I resigned”. She repeated her claim of some council officers “undermining” projects and said they “displayed either a disregard for, or lack of understanding of, the differing roles and responsibilities” between them and elected politicians.

Coun Byrne added: “I tried repeatedly to resolve my concerns internally. When I realised that the council’s leadership was more troubled by my raising concerns than they were with the reasons I had for being concerned, I resigned and pursued my complaints independently.

“Almost a year later, I am still waiting for the conclusion of the investigation of my complaints although I have repeatedly been assured that I will receive a response soon. The council has been able to delay responding to me because there is no process for investigating concerns raised about officers by councillors. It is left entirely to officers to decide how to investigate and at what speed. This is not good governance and I have written to the chair of audit and standards committee to raise this.”

The city council confirmed that it had investigated several complaints made by Coun Byrne since July 2023 and said none had been upheld. A spokesperson added: “Following a response sent to Coun Byrne in November 2023, there was a request for further clarity on matters relating to that complaint. We are yet to respond to Coun Byrne on those matters and would like to apologise for the time this has taken, a response will be sent in due course. We have written to Coun Byrne to clarify what matters she is waiting for a response on.”

At a full council meeting on Wednesday night, Coun Byrne voted against her own Labour group on two motions criticising the Government’s decision to remove the winter fuel allowance for millions of pensioners. She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service afterwards that she agreed with Unite general secretary Sharon Graham, who led a motion at Labour’s recent party conference calling for ministers to reverse the cut.

Coun Byrne added: “Labour Conference voted to call on the government to reverse the cuts to winter fuel payments and this Labour council should be doing the same.”

Join our Breaking News and Top Stories WhatsApp community

Join our Breaking News and Top Stories WhatsApp community for all the latest news direct to your phone.

To join you need to have WhatsApp on your device. All you need to do is choose which community you want to join, click on the link and press 'join community'.

No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the ChronicleLive team.

We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners.

If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.

If you’re curious, you can read our privacy notice.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN