Cambridge Labour’s new leader Mike Davey says party has lost touch with public

Cambridge Labour’s new leader admits the party has lost touch with the public over congestion charging plans.

Cllr Mike Davey says the party “could have done things differently” but that Labour had “tried to make clear” that it does not support the current proposals.

He told the Cambridge Independent: “I’ve got to take responsibility to be quite honest. I was part of the Labour group that was going through that so I’m not going to throw anyone under the bus.

“However, on reflection, we could have done a whole pile of things differently, but we are where we are. We need to listen to the people who’ve responded.”

Cllr Davey (Lab, Petersfield) was appointed Labour group leader on Sunday (May 14) after running against and defeating Anna Smith, as exclusively revealed by the Cambridge Independent.

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He will formally take up the leadership of Cambridge City Council at the authority’s annual meeting later this month.

Cllr Davey explained that he had been questioning whether the group was heading in the right direction before deciding to challenge Cllr Smith’s leadership.

He said he felt there needed to be a “shift in emphasis” to be more open to “what the city requires” by moving away from “looking internally”.

He said: “Both Anna and I put our names forward because it’s a democratic process, and the result was the group felt that I was the best person to both unify us as a group and also take us forward.”

Cllr Davey praised his predecessor for “doing a hell of a lot of work”, adding that Cllr Smith is a “gifted politician”.

Cllr Smith (Lab, Coleridge) will remain on the city council, but will be focussing on her role as deputy mayor of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA).

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Cllr Smith, who had been city council leader since October 2021, said: “I am delighted at what we’ve achieved together in my time as council leader including the hundreds of new council homes we are building across the city, and the way we have protected our generous community grants programme in the face of Tory cuts. I’m also proud to have led Cambridge Labour to two record victories in the local elections.

“I’m also grateful for the opportunity to deputise leadership of the Combined Authority whilst Nik Johnson was ill. I look forward to continuing as deputy mayor of the CPCA, working with Nik on the exciting projects ahead.

“I will continue to prioritise service over ambition and will work with the next leader of the council in the best interests of the people of Cambridge.”

The recent local election campaign was dominated by the Greater Cambridge Partnership’s plans for a citywide road charge. This was reflected in the voting patterns, with the Conservatives securing a huge 19 per cent share of the vote despite not winning a seat. Labour finished the day with 27 seats, down two on their position from a year ago, with the Lib Dems remaining the opposition party with 10 – up one. Cllr Alex Collis, the deputy leader, has resigned amid the fallout of the leadership challenge.

Cllr Davey said the congestion charge proved to be a “similar litmus test” during the elections, as the issue of Brexit played in the Conservative party leadership contest in 2019 won by Boris Johnson.

He said: “Although Labour did really well elsewhere in the country, in Cambridge people from the more deprived wards of King’s Hedges, Abbey and Cherry Hinton felt we’d lost touch with them.

“And whilst I’m sad that Alex [Collis] has gone, her analysis is right in the sense that those communities are struggling to see what we’re doing for them and we’ve lost that connection with them.

“That’s not an Anna thing, it’s more general. It’s about how we within the Labour Party in the city are not as closely aligned to those communities as I think we thought we were. There’s a lesson to be learned from that and we need to take heed.”

And Cllr Davey is already taking action by naming himself as the city council’s representative on the Greater Cambridge Partnership, replacing Cllr Dave Baigent (Lab, Romsey).

He said: “It’s important because the key decisions will be taking place over the next six months and I think the leader should be party to that process.”

Cllr Davey said the party had “tried to make clear” during the elections that it does not support the current proposals.

He said that the council’s job was to listen because “if 23,000 people can be bothered to come back and talk to you, you need to listen”.

Cllr Davey also set out four areas that need addressing about the current congestion charge proposals.

“This is based on what we’ve heard on the doorstep, so clearly there is a proper analysis to take place, so there is a caveat to this,” he said.

“Clearly there is an issue with people – if it’s a congestion charge – driving from the edge of the city and out. If they live in Cherry Hinton and they’re driving to Newmarket, it seems odd to be charged, so there’s something wrong there in my view.

“The second one for me is about small businesses. If you’re a painter and decorator living in Cottenham and there’s one of you and you’re a small business – it’s tough at the moment – that feels wrong.

“Third is Addenbrooke’s. If you’re going to hospital, having a notional charge doesn’t seem to be the right thing. The final thing is about fairness for those who are the least well off in our city. We just need to look at how we do that. Those are the sorts of things that I would want to be discussing, subject to my group’s approval, but then discussed with partners at the county council and South Cambs [District Council].”

Cllr Davey has been the council’s executive councillor for finance, resources and transformation.

He said: “Our vision for the city remains focused on our key pledges of tackling poverty and inequality, addressing the climate crisis, building a new generation of council houses and maintaining key services despite Tory cuts.

“I want to thank Cllr Anna Smith for the tremendous amount she has achieved during her tenure as leader. I am delighted that she will remain as board member and deputy mayor of the Combined Authority and I look forward to working with her as she makes this vital contribution at regional level.”

Labour mayor Dr Nik Johnson added: “I’m absolutely delighted that Anna will be focussing more of her time on the Combined Authority. I’m incredibly grateful for the work she did as acting mayor when I was off sick, and she is an excellent deputy. I look forward to continuing to work with her.”