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00:00This may look like a regular meeting at Sevenoaks District Council,
00:06yet it follows a week for the local authority that's been anything but.
00:11Last Thursday, seven Conservative councillors jumped ship to form a new group after months of internal tensions,
00:22with two more joining the newly minted West Kent independents by Monday.
00:29The revolt has left the council in no overall control,
00:34with opposition councillors now outnumbering the Tory benches by four.
00:41Well, we put the minority now of Conservative administration on notice that their days are numbered.
00:47They cannot provide us with a stable, secure, decent council administration,
00:53and we clearly need to try and put something together to replace that.
00:57The Conservative group are still the largest in Sevenoaks.
01:02To be put on notice, opposition parties would need to band together,
01:08leaving the new group as potential kingmakers.
01:12It does mean that we are now not that many behind the Liberal Democrats.
01:15We are a sizable force and either the big national parties who are represented on this council should be very keen to be communicating with this
01:23because if we were to side on one side or the other, obviously a majority would be taken.
01:28We're not in it for that at all, but we realise that to achieve their aspirations then perhaps they need to come speak to us.
01:36But despite talk of further defections, the current council leader remains defiant.
01:43Within the West Kent group, such as it is at the moment, that's Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells and Tunbridge and Morling,
01:50the other Conservative controlled council was actually a minority controlled Conservative council, Tunbridge and Morling,
01:57and that has worked very well and they now, through the recent elections, have actually resolved that, so they are now a majority
02:04and I would expect that to be the case. It certainly will be my case to bring back a majority to the Conservative group before the end of this term.
02:13The council chamber is now empty after an extraordinary week of politics here in Sevenoaks,
02:21but with rumours of partnership agreements circulating, that turbulence is showing no signs of letting up just yet.
02:32Only leader in Sevenoaks.
02:34Only leader in Sevenoaks.