All change as Sunderland City Council gets new leader and deputy

Sunderland City Council has a new leadership team after national party leaders stepped in to place the city’s Labour Group under special measures.

The party has confirmed that Hendon ward member Coun Michael Mordey is the new man in charge, with his Southwick colleague Coun Kelly Chequer as deputy.

They replace Coun Graeme Miller and Coun Claire Rowntree respectively.

The Echo revealed at the weekend that the move had sparked anger among local members denied a say in the appointment of a leader.

Labour councillors meet each May to vote in a leader, deputy leader and other key positions and with the party dominating the make-up of the city council, that vote ultimately decides who gets the senior roles on the authority - including leader and deputy.

Councillors were due to hold their annual post-election meeting on Saturday, May 2, before an email from Labour North cancelled the event and invited applications for leader, deputy leader, chief whip, deputy whip, chair, treasurer and secretary ahead of a rescheduled AGM to take place on today, Wednesday, May 8.

The email said the Sunderland Labour Group had been put under the ‘Campaign Improvement Board’, a scheme set up to ‘support Labour groups that require improvement’.

An email to Labour councillors said the decision had been made by Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee and signed off by General Secretary, David Evans.

The full list of new appointments is:

Leader – Michael Mordey

Deputy Leader – Kelly Chequer

Chair – Phil Tye

Chief Whip – Tracey Dodds

Deputy Whip – Beth Jones

Secretary – Dianne Snowdon

Treasurer – Alex Samuels

Coun Mordey said: “It is an honour to take up the role as Leader of the Sunderland Labour Group and Sunderland City Council.

“I look forward to working in partnership with councillors to deliver essential frontline services for communities in Sunderland.

“Local authorities like Sunderland are bearing the brunt of fourteen years of Tory economic mismanagement, compounded by spiralling inflation and a stagnating economy.

“We hope to provide the certainty and stability needed in spite of these challenges.”

Today’s announcement marks a remarkable turn-around for Coun Mordey, who was dismissed as deputy council leader in 2020, after what then-leader Coun Miller described as ‘internal Labour Party politics’, though he retained his role as deputy leader of the city’s Labour group.

He dismissed claims of a ‘vendetta’ between himself and Coun Miller as ‘nonsense’.

He was off the council altogether in 2021, losing his seat to Liberal Democrat Ciaran Morrisey but was back a year later, holding another of the Hendon ward’s three seats for Labour.