Wrexham Councillor Mark Pritchard Re-elected as Leader for 13th Consecutive Term

Independent Councillor Mark Pritchard has been re-elected as Leader of Wrexham County Borough Council for a 13th consecutive term. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

The member for Esclusham was nominated by fellow Independent Cllr David Bithell of Pant and Johnstown Ward. The nomination was seconded by Ponciau Cllr Paul Pemberton.
His re-election was not unanimous – with a notable vote against his appointment from the authority’s Plaid Cymru group.
Cllr Dave Bithell was also returned as Deputy Leader for the 2026/27 term.
Councillors also appointed members to the authority’s various decision-making bodies and scrutiny committees, despite concerns that three upcoming by-elections may force a reshuffle in a matter of weeks.
Three Plaid Cymru councillors – Cllr Carrie Harper, Cllr Marc Jones and Cllr Becca Martin – were elected to the Senedd on May 8, forcing them to vacate their local authority seats.
“I understand that we have to appoint all our committees and we have to appoint the Executive Board,” said Cllr Hugh Jones.
“We’re in the situation where we have three vacancies as a council and there’s an election on the 18th of June. There’s hardly any meetings take place during the month of August.
“We are in a situation where we will be appointing people to committees possibly just for one or two meetings.
“Are we going through a process of taking people off committees and putting people on committees, just for one or two meetings? It seems to me not to be in the best interests of the council or indeed the committees themselves.”
Chief Officer for Governance and Customer Linda Roberts said the council’s constitution and legal position required the appointments to be made.
“This report asks council to review and approve the political allocation and appointments to our executive board, committees, scrutiny committees and our various panels in accordance with the legislative requirements and the council’s constitution,” she said.
“The election of members to the Senedd requires a review of our political balance and the associated appointments under the Local Government and Housing Act and the Local Government (Wales) Measure.
“I’m obliged to review the political balance and report back to council each time it changes. I appreciate there’s probably a short period of time, but the next report would actually be towards the end of September.” ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

By BBC LDRS ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​