The leader of Monmouthshire County Council narrowly survived a vote on her position on Thursday, as the opposition launched a role call vote on her future.

The Conservatives nominated their leader, Cllr Richard John as council leader in an attempt to oust Ms Brocklesby, who has led the council since 2022.

Cllr John had previously led the council for a short time in 2021 and 2022, before losing to Labour in the local elections.

The leader survived by just one vote, with Cllr Brocklesby edging out Cllr John by 23 votes to 22, owing largely to the abstinence of one independent councillor, Emma Bryn.

Any vote on the council leadership was going to be closely fought, with the council effectively split down the middle. There are 21 Labour councillors, with one Green and an independent supporting the administration, and 23 opposition members.

Monmouthshire council has been dependant on the chairman’s casting vote before

Cllr Brocklesby responded to her critics after surviving the AGM on Thursday evening, reaffirming her dedication to the role.

“I will never take for granted the role and responsibilities [of being council leader],” she said.

Richard John responded to the Chronicle following the AGM and stressed the attack on Cllr Brocklesby’s leadership was not personal.

“I have a lot of respect for Cllr Brocklesby personally, but Monmouthshire residents have lost faith in Labour after three years of council tax hikes, poor decision-making and cuts to services,” he said.

“Under Labour, council tax has gone up by almost 25% in just three years, while the service residents receive from Monmouthshire County Council has got worse.”

Council tax increased by 7.8 per cent in Monmouthshire in April, following an increase by the same amount in 2024. That’s a rough increase of £122 per month for a band D home.

Cllr John also continued to tell us the council is failing on local business and public services.

“The council has turned its back on local businesses, repeatedly fails to engage effectively with residents and wastes hundreds of thousands of pounds every year on unpopular pet projects,” he said.

“The Council’s cabinet has shown contempt for scrutiny processes, refused to review its own botched procurement practices and tried to close or downgrade valuable community assets like Tudor Street Day Centre and Monmouth Library.”

“Local residents are telling us they want Labour out. My Conservative team stands ready and willing to offer the residents of Monmouthshire fresh leadership to begin repairing the damage inflicted on our council by this chaotic Labour administration.”

Hitting back at the Conservatives inside the AGM, the council leader blamed the last UK Tory budget for hitting local government especially hard.

“The last Conservative UK budget meant the future looked bleak, but now we are seeing positive changes, with the new Labour government making a difference and enabling the Welsh Government to put more money into local government.”

“I have fought for additional funding for Monmouthshire and made several positive investments in this year’s council budget, but we still face tough challenges.”