Parents of children with special needs last night warned that a ‘week has already been lost to politics and our children cannot wait’ – as political parties traded blows in the wake of the damning SEND report.

Oxfordshire County Council’s ruling Fair Deal Alliance of Liberal Democrats, Labour and Green parties collapsed on Sunday afternoon, as the Labour Party pulled out of the coalition that has run the council since 2021.

Council leader and Lib Dem chief Liz Leffman claimed that she had told the Labour group she would ‘remove’ Labour leader Cllr Liz Brighouse as cabinet member for children’s services unless she stepped down and took a different cabinet post.

She said she was ‘disappointed’ that Labour had chosen to leave the alliance, but added that it was clear Cllr Brighouse had ‘lost the support of many parents’ of SEND children.

READ MORE: Live updates as council coalition collapses and parties trade words

But in a blistering riposte, issued in response to a joint statement by the Lib Dem and Green parties on the county council, Labour accused Cllr Leffman of being ‘asleep at the wheel’.

They said she had ‘failed to take any responsibility or provide any leadership’.

The recriminations follow a damning joint Ofsted and CQC report into provision in the county for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

Published 10 days ago, the report warned of ‘systemic failings’ in the service and ordered the organisations responsible – the council and local NHS integrated care board – to put together an action plan to address problems flagged in the inspection.

Responding to the latest political machinations, a spokesman for campaign group Oxfordshire SEND Parent Action told the Oxford Mail: "Oxfordshire County Council has been given 30 days by Ofsted to produce an action plan in response.

"A week of this has already been lost to politics. The clock is ticking and our children cannot wait.”

READ MORE: Timeline of problems with already-troubled SEND services - after coalition took over

Speaking at a county council scrutiny meeting last week, the councillor then in charge of the SEND brief – Cllr Brighouse – said she wouldn’t resign because she understood ‘what the issues are’.

“I suppose the thing I have to apologise for was perhaps my arrogance in believing, when I took it on, that I really thought I could make a difference to what was happening with our children,” she said, according to reports.

“It is a systemic failure across the whole country. It’s a systemic failure that started a long time ago,” she told the meeting, adding that she ‘could not be sorrier’ and was ‘fighting on all fronts’.

Oxford Mail: Liz Brighouse Liz Brighouse

On Saturday, SEND transport campaigner turned councillor Damian Haywood added his voice to those calling on Cllr Brighouse to step down as the cabinet member for children’s services – as he submitted his resignation from the Labour Party.

He told the Oxford Mail: “She absolutely does not have the will of the community and the confidence of the community to take this forward.”

A new cabinet member responsible for the SEND brief is expected to be appointed later today (Monday, September 25).