Express & Star

The leader of Wolverhampton’s five-strong Liberal Democrats today said the city’s Labour group had itself to blame for not holding talks on a possible power-sharing coalition.

Councillor Michael Heap, who has struck a deal with the Tories to create an alliance to throw Labour from power, said his group was “treated with contempt” until now.

He told the Express & Star that it was worth handing over every cabinet seat to the Tories in order to set up a “more open administration” with fresh policies.

The Tory-Lib Dem alliance, which will be led by Councillor Neville Patten, will be confirmed next Wednesday at the city council’s AGM.

Councillor Heap said: “We believe the best way to form an administration is to preserve our distinctive voice as a Liberal group while forming a loose agreement with the Tories.

“Someone has to run this council and we needed to make a decision either way. Labour messed around and was not interested in having any negotiations with our group.

“We wanted something to happen and there are a few areas where the Conservatives think like us. The Tory group will have to do things by us to make it work, but that just didn’t happen under Labour.

“Labour had been in power for 14 years in this city and it was time for a change. It had run out of ideas and was quite tired.

“The Labour group treated us with contempt. We will not be dismissed as insignificant any more, and at last I’m looking forward to a much more open administration.”

The Liberal Democrats also say that several key alliance policies, like the scrapping of the Stafford Road red route and reviewing youth facilities, is because of the group’s new influence.

Labour Councillor Roger Lawrence, who will lead the city council until next Wednesday, said: “I don’t know what the Liberal Democrats have achieved by this. It is a short-sighted political move and not a surprise.

“The policy to scrap the red route is an absolute disgrace because the evidence we are gathering suggests it has been a success so far. It’s being done just to make a political point.”

The Liberal Democrats sealed the alliance with the Tories in a lengthy meeting between the two groups on Wednesday afternoon, with the Liberals asking for no cabinet seats.

Instead the group will get to chair the planning committee and all the city council scrutiny committees, as well as have a say in policy making over the next two years.

Tory leader Neville Patten will make Tettenhall Councillor Barry Findlay his deputy and unveil another eight cabinet members at the AGM next week.

The next local elections will not take place in Wolverhampton until 2010, giving the new alliance a two-year term.