New council chair and deputy chosen amid claims “gentleman’s agreement” broken

A former merchant seaman has been chosen as Anglesey Council’s chairman for 2021/22, despite the vote to secure his deputy being marred by claims of a “gentleman’s agreement” being broken.

Holyhead-based councillor, Glyn Haynes, was unanimously selected to the ceremonial role during Tuesday’s full council meeting.

First elected in 2017 as a Labour councillor for the Caergybi ward, Cllr Haynes is an active trade union activist, spending 20 years at sea before working at  Eaton/MEM Electrical and becoming a full-time Union Convenor before being made redundant.

Unanimously selected after two years serving as Cllr Margaret Murley Roberts’ deputy,  he compared the honour to his beloved Everton “winning the FA Cup or Premier League!”

Announcing his nominated charity as St David’s Hospice at Ysbyty Penrhos Stanley in Holyhead, Cllr Haynes said: “I would like to take this opportunity to thank my fellow councillors for electing me and giving me the honour and privilege of serving the people of Ynys Môn as the County Council’s civic head for 2021 to 2022.

“I will serve Anglesey and its residents to the best of my abilities and look forward to being a good ambassador for the county council as I carry out my civic duties over the next 12 months.”

The election of Cllr Haynes’ deputy went less smoothly, however, with members of the main opposition group claiming that a previous gentleman’s agreement should have seen one of their members allocated the role.

The group abstained on the vote to elect Cllr Dafydd Roberts, a member of the independent group that’s in coalition with Plaid Cymru in running the council, who represents the Bro Rhosyr Ward.

Cllr Bryan Owen, leader of the opposition, congratulated Cllr Haynes but said: “As a group we will be abstaining, it’s nothing personal and we hope that Dafydd Roberts enjoys his time as deputy but in 2011 there was an understanding that the chair went back and forth between the ruling group and the opposition.

“That hasn’t happened, we put forward Cllr Peter Rogers three years ago and that wasn’t supported, so we won’t be voting but it’s nothing personal.”

But Cllr Llinos Medi, the leader, was offered legal clarification that the constitution had not been broken, with the practice said to be an informal protocol dating back to the commissioners’ administration of the authority a decade ago.

Cllr Aled Morris Jones accused the ruling group on “insisting on bringing politics to the nomination of vice chairs,” but Cllr Nicola Roberts felt it was “high time the council moved away from gentleman’s agreements and time served,” adding “it should be about the best person for the job.”

By Gareth Williams – Local Democracy Reporter