Kris Wilson: In Nuneaton and Bedworth, we offer vigorous opposition to Labour’s wasteful spending

Cllr Kris Wilson is the Leader of the Opposition on Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council.

No-one will deny that the past two years have been challenging for us in the Conservative local government family. Nuneaton and Bedworth has been no different but we are working hard to show that while we are down, we are not out, and our party still has fight left in it.

At the elections in 2024, Labour narrowly retook control but have since lost two members for us now to be in no overall control. Since taking control, they have shown what their priorities are:

• Spending £5,000 to redecorate the Leader’s office
• Ripping up the shrubs outside the Town Hall to replace it with shale at a cost of £40,000
• Cutting Christmas light switch-on events in our largest village
• Slashing the play area budget by £75,000
• Increasing councillor pay by £40,000
• Hiking car parking charges in our town centres
• Removing councillor control of council-owned companies
• Paying immigration and visa fees for migrant workers to come to our council to work

Rather than Cabinet members answering their own questions when challenged at council we have meeting after meeting of councillors just reading officer replies. Not only does this display a worrying lack of leadership by elected members and hiding behind officers, but it also completely goes against the principle that elected members answer for their actions.

When holding the Labour Cabinet to account in committee, we have had the chairwoman talk over public speakers and then telling councillors who call for others to be heard to just “shut up”. Hardly a shining example of an open and democratic council.

Since returning to opposition, we have not sat idly by and waited.

It is the Conservatives in Nuneaton and Bedworth who have set the agenda at the council to discuss issues of relevance and concern for local residents. We have championed fairer housing numbers, completing the much-needed regeneration of Nuneaton, funding town centre support in Bedworth and opposing taxing shoppers in our town centres even more.

Following the tragic incident in August where a local school girl was raped by two alleged Afghan asylum seekers we stood up for law abiding citizens and called for council to lobby Government to close local asylum HMOs, increase judges and sitting days in our asylum and immigration courts and disapply the Human Rights Act to such cases.

As usual we had the typical lefties accusing us of trying to abolish the rights of the ordinary citizen. It was only us Conservatives who pointed out that humans rights did not begin and end with the Human Rights Act in 1998! Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights 1689, Great Reform Acts, Equal Pay and Anti-Discrimination laws did not all start with the Human Rights Act and they will exist long after it.

It is only by tackling these issues that local residents care about and being prepared to talk about them will we start to build the relationships with our voters again. In Nuneaton and Bedworth, we have already started to open that dialogue.

No overall control does present opportunities as well as challenges. We have:

• Defeated Labour’s attempt to gerrymander council business so that ordinary councillors will have their questions talked out – which would have denied us the chance to speak up for local issues
• Forced them to schedule meetings on housing plans that they would rather not be held
• Divided local Labour from the national party to oppose the new arbitrary housing targets being forced on us
• Required the Council to call the Home Office, Police, Serco and Council Communities Teams to answer before councillors for the failures that led to the events of August 2025
• Opposed as a council the government plans to introduce a mandatory ID cards scheme

Needless to say, the Labour line was to vote against the above but we were able to inflict defeats on the controlling group.

As a Conservative Party we are the only party with the experience, drive and maturity to try and turn around Nuneaton and Bedworth once again. Our offer to the Borough builds on what ordinary residents want:

• Saving our town centres and delivering real regeneration
• Making our communities safe again
• Restoring civic pride in Nuneaton and Bedworth
• Stopping the waste of taxpayers’ money at the Town Hall
• Providing high-quality public services which put the interests of residents first, not politicians, bureaucrats and special interests

Elections in May – if they go ahead – will be hard. But hiding away will not help rebuild the trust with the voters that we need to make a difference in our towns and deliver real change, not just slogans and empty promises.

As I write, our Labour Leader has today written to the Government to request our elections are delayed. Despite the challenges we face, we oppose these plans. To do so reinforces the perception that we don’t care what voters think and we as politicians know better.

But no overall control offers another opportunity to show why we are different. Tonight, we have submitted a motion of no confidence in the Labour Leader for trying to deny us our democracy.

As a Conservative Party we still have the fight to stand up for what is right. And I, and my colleagues, are looking forward to the fight.