The opposition groups at North Herts Council yesterday (Thursday, May 22) managed to elect their preferred candidate for chair of the authority against the wishes of the minority Labour administration.

Liberal Democrat Keith Hoskins, who served as chair for the 2025/26 civic year, was re-elected with 24 votes against 22 for Labour's Sadie Billing, who served as vice chair last year.

The result goes against an informal convention – though there have been a number of exceptions – that the vice-chair in one year will become the chair in the next.

The chair represents the district at public events on a non-party political basis, and oversees full council meetings throughout the year.

Labour also failed in a bid to re-elect Cllr Billing as vice-chair, with the position instead going to Liberal Democrat Sean Prendergast.

At the meeting, Labour cabinet member Laura Williams said the opposition groups were breaking with a convention that the chair will not serve for longer than a single year.

She accused them of suggesting that Cllr Billing "isn't able to do it yet" despite a year serving as vice chair, an argument she said would be "demonstrably sexist".

But David Chalmers, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrat group, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the accusation of sexism was "appalling", and said the decision to vote for a Liberal Democrat chair and vice-chair "had nothing to do with Sadie's ability or experience or the fact she's a woman".

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"I think she's done an excellent job as vice-chair," he said, adding that retaining a Liberal Democrat chair would "ensure that the Labour administration cannot threaten to cancel council meetings and deny motions from other parties".

Cllr Chalmers said that conventions should "not be viewed as never to be changed" and pointed out that, in recent years, Chris Lucas (LD) and Tina Bhartwas (formerly Lab, now LD) had both served as vice-chair without being elected as chair in the following year.

Ralph Muncer, leader of the Conservative group, said the idea that sexism lay behind the decision to re-elect Cllr Hoskins was "absolutely preposterous".

"The reality is that Keith has, for the last year, done an extraordinary job under quite difficult circumstances," he said. "He has been able to guide the council through those turbulent waters while maintaining the confidence and support of the three parties in the chamber, and that's not an easy thing to do."

Cllr Billing posted on social media that she is "gutted" not to have been elected as chair or vice chair.

She offered her congratulations to Cllrs Hoskins and Prendergast and added: "I became a councillor to support my community and local residents, and that will always remain my focus."

The Labour leader of the council, Val Bryant, said: "The reasons that have been offered privately and in meetings for departing from established practice are, frankly, not acceptable in the 21st century.

"They have lacked transparency, consistency, and fairness, and they do not reflect the values this council should uphold."

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She said Cllr Billing had spent the past year preparing to serve as chair "in line with long-standing convention and expectation" and suggested the Liberal Democrats had not acted in a "spirit of collaboration and fairness".

But Cllr Chalmers said Labour "have to understand … they are a minority administration and, over the past year, they have lost councillors".

He pointed to decisions – such as on local government reorganisation, when the Labour cabinet overrode a vote of full council – where he believed Labour had "failed to take into account" their status as a minority administration.

Similarly, explaining the Conservative decision to vote for the Liberal Democrat candidates last night, Cllr Muncer said: "The Labour administration is a minority administration, and there is a political calculation which needs to be made, and that calculation is that it is not wise to hand a minority administration, at such a crucial juncture, a casting vote."

North Herts Council is currently made up of 23 Labour councillors, 20 Liberal Democrats, seven Conservatives and one independent.