Labour loses control of Ashfield Council after no confidence vote Published duration 27 April 2018

image copyright Sophie Wills image caption Council leader Cheryl Butler lost a vote of no confidence

Labour has lost control of a Nottinghamshire council following a vote of no confidence in its leader.

The party had lost its majority on Ashfield District Council after two members joined the Conservatives in March and six more became independents.

Council leader Cheryl Butler refused to resign, leading to the vote on Thursday night.

Jason Zadrozny, leader of Ashfield Independents, will now lead the local authority.

image caption Councillors Lee Anderson (left) and Chris Baron defected from Labour to the Conservatives in March

Mr Zadrozny - who himself was ousted as council leader when part of the Liberal Democrats in 2009 - said he is "delighted" to replace Ms Butler as leader, who he said "made too many mistakes" during her time in charge.

He also said he was "happy" to work with Labour and Conservative councillors on policies for the benefit of local residents.

"This isn't about me, or about the council, this is about putting Ashfield first," he said.

image copyright PA image caption Jason Zadrozny is the new leader of Ashfield District Council

Ms Butler said she felt "very disappointed" in her former colleagues who "sold themselves to a different party" and had "borne a grudge for a long time", and described the motion that removed her as "spurious and gerrymandering".

"When the first few left I think I was quite relieved, because it's not been the happiest time because of their disruption," she said.

"The people of Ashfield voted were the ones that actually voted in the Labour administration, and they should be the ones that [have the power to] vote out the Labour administration."