Oxfordshire leader ‘tone of toddler’ in videos questioned

A video of county council leader Tim Bearder (Lib Dem) has been described as promoting political views and having the tone of a “toddler” after it was posted to the authority’s website and social media accounts, which were created to inform residents about council services.

An opposition leader has spoken out, questioning why videos in which Mr Bearder “appears to be the actor, director, editor and videographer” are “straying into party-political territory” on “taxpayer-funded” communication platforms.

This follows questions raised in social media comments about who Mr Bearder is and why the video had been shared on the official Oxfordshire County Council accounts.

In the video, the county leader describes government plans to abolish the county, city and district councils and create three new unitary powers as “deeply flawed”, questioning financial viability, as he calls on Andy Burnham to reverse the decision.

In a later video, also shared on council pages, he described the decision as making “no sense at all”.

County Conservative leader and West Oxfordshire councillor Liam Walker said: “I was surprised to see the county council publish that video following the Government’s decision on local government reorganisation.

“The tone was more like a toddler who hadn’t got their own way than the balanced and professional communication residents should expect from their council.

“More broadly, there is a legitimate question about whether taxpayer-funded council social media accounts are being used appropriately or are straying into party-political territory.

(Image: Supplied)

“It’s all becoming a bit sycophantic when the leader of the council appears to be the actor, director, editor and videographer of the council’s social media output.

“Council communications should inform residents, not provide a taxpayer-funded platform for the political views of whoever happens to be running the administration.”

The three-council plan, which was chosen for the upcoming reorganisation by the Starmer government, had been put forward by Labour-run Oxford City Council, and proposals for a single Oxfordshire unitary or two, which had been shared by Lib Dem-run county and district councils, will not move forward.

It is not abnormal for local authorities and their leaders to criticise government decisions, but this usually follows the passing of a motion at a meeting, which would make a criticism the official stance of the council.

In this case, that had not occurred following the reorganisation decision.

The video left some residents questioning what was going on in the comments.

Paul Fowler said: “The official Oxfordshire County Council social media channels should not be used for political purposes.

“There has been a couple of posts already that are not appropriate. This channel should be neutral and not party political.

“They should be used for factual announcements and not political opinion.

“This is not the place for this. Mr Bearder and his party etc have their own social media accounts and can express their party political views there.

“That would be more appropriate and impartial.”

Ossie Stinga added: “Sounds like he’s complaining about it not being a relabelled Oxfordshire County Council.”

While Dorothy Murphy questioned: “Who is this speaking? And from which party?”

Oxfordshire County Council and Tim Bearder were contacted for comment and did not respond.