SEND storm Warwickshire councillor loses borough seat by five votes

A county councillor under investigation for comments on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) “would be naive to think” they hadn’t played a part in her borough council election defeat.

Councillor Clare Golby (Con, Arbury) was also the deputy leader of Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council until Friday when she missed out by just five votes to Labour’s Christian Smith.

Arbury was the tightest ward overall. The top two got the seats but there were less than 100 votes between four candidates – two from Labour and two from the Tories.

It was a key battleground as Labour swept to a majority, jumping from five seats up to 20 out of the 38 available. Had Arbury remained blue, the top two parties would have been level pegging with the authority in no overall control.

Cllr Golby, Councillor Jeff Morgan (Bulkington & Whitestone) and Councillor Brian Hammersley (Bedworth Central) remain under investigation by Warwickshire County Council following a flurry of complaints over their parts in a discussion over the surge in demand for SEND provision during a council meeting in January.

Widespread outrage followed Cllr Morgan questioning whether some children put forward for SEND assessments were “just really badly behaved” and in need of “some form of strict correction”, Cllr Hammersley asking whether the increase was down to “something in the water” and Cllr Golby referring to social media pages where “families are swapping tips on how to get their children diagnosed”.

Apologies from all three were sent out by the county council’s communications team but they have each declined to comment further when approached by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Cllr Golby took to social media site X on Saturday (May 4) to say: “Yesterday I lost my (Nuneaton & Bedworth) seat by five votes. I’ll pick over the reasons why at some point but (the) national picture played a large part.

“I got the biggest cheers of the day and see the usual crowd are celebrating my loss. Funny though, one door closing has led to several opening.”

That was followed by another post on Monday (May 6). “Woke up this morning to a raft of DMs (direct messages) gloating about my election loss,” she wrote.

“So, I’m still a county councillor, no more political restriction equals business is booming, sun is shining. I’ll never be pathetic or sad enough to send unsolicited DMs like the ones I receive. Have a great day.”

Cllr Golby declined to comment further when approached.

The responses on social media were mixed, some showing support for Cllr Golby while others reiterated calls for her to stand down from the county council.

Elissa Novak, a parent of a child with SEND from Nuneaton, was among those to speak out about January comments at the time, addressing a meeting for all county councillors on the matter in March.

She says a number of people have switched political allegiance over the issue.

“The national picture always plays a part in local elections but I think it would be silly to ignore the local issue that has also played a big part," said Ms Novak.

“Personally, I have heard a lot of feedback from people who have spoken to Conservative canvassers on the doorstep on this issue, and there are lots of comments online and in our local forums.

“People have said they would usually vote Conservative – and this is in Arbury ward – but voted Labour for the first time because of Councillor Golby’s comments.

“When it is such a small margin as well, comparing that with her win last time, I think it would be naive to think it didn’t play a part.”

Councillor Jonathan Chilvers (Leamington Brunswick) is the leader of the Green Party on the county council. He called for the Tories to remove the whip from – temporarily banish – the trio while the investigation is ongoing.

He added: “The national situation will have an impact but this has been such a major issue.

“Losing by five votes is actually only three people switching their vote. It would be surprising if it had no impact.”