The new leader of the Conservative group in Wolverhampton has refused to rule out a coalition with the Liberal Democrats in a bid to wrestle back control of the city council.

Councillor Neville Patten said his opposition group teaming up with the four Liberal Democrats on the authority was “an option” as the local elections loom closer. The council is currently controlled by the Labour Party, which has a majority of 12 councillors. The last time the Tories were in power was in 1994 – in coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

Councillor Patten said today: “We cannot rule it out at this stage and I will say that it is an option – if it is of benefit to the city, we will look at it.

“The Liberal Democrats could also team up with the controlling Labour group on the other hand. It all depends on how hungry they are for power. If it is good for Wolverhampton, we will not say it is not an option for us.”

Councillor Patten, who took over as leader after the resignation of Councillor Paddy Bradley two weeks ago, will have a decision to make if both opposition parties have enough councillors to become the ruling administration of the authority after the local elections on May 1.

Rumours have been circulating at the Civic Centre that the opposition parties are prepared to put traditional rivalries to one side to gain control if the election produced no overall majority.

Councillor Malcolm Gwinnett, Liberal Democrat deputy leader, said: “I accept that there are rumours going around but we don’t know what will happen at the elections yet, and I’m not going to discuss power sharing or anything like that at this stage.

“What’s good for this city will always come first.

“No discussions have taken place, but we are not ruling anything out.”

The Labour group says it is confident, however, that it will retain overall control of the authority.

Councillor Roger Lawrence, leader of the city council, said: “I’m confident that we are strong enough to retain overall control of the council. We are still the largest group.”