A DRAMATIC shake-up of Worcester City Council has been voted through - with the Labour cabinet facing a shock axe.

The opposition Conservative group has linked up with the Greens to tear up the current leadership model in favour of a 'committee system'.

Amid acrimonious scenes last night Labour Cllr Adrian Gregson angrily accused the other two parties of a "power grab", saying they were pushing the council "towards the edge of a cliff" after plotting in secret talks.

But Cllr Marc Bayliss, who leads the Tory group, urged politicians to "face up the fact" the current system "does not work well", with no party in overall control for three of the last four years.

Cllr Louis Stephen, from the two-strong Greens, urged "peace to break out" and also said minority administrations in Worcester do not work.

During the debate, he said: "I’d like to ask every councillor here tonight: why did you come into politics, was it really just to get power or was it to do good and get things done?

"I don’t want to waste all of our time arguing and indulging in petty point scoring - most of Worcester’s residents expect more of us than that.

"They expect us to sort out the bins, cut the hedges, promote the city and look after the homeless."

Cllr Bayliss told the chamber the cabinet system "is a binary one, where you either have all the power or none of it" and said he'd become convinced of the need for change on a recent fact-finding mission at other councils including Stroud, in Gloucestershire.

He told politicians "a long-term trend in Worcester" is no party having overall control, and insisted the cabinet model is therefore outdated.

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He also said councils in areas like Reading, Nottinghamshire, Brighton, south Gloucestershire and Stroud have converted to committees since 2012, none of them regretting the move.

Cllr Gregson tried to amend the motion, saying the current cross-party scrutiny panel appointed to investigate alternative governance models had not finished its work.

"We're going towards the edge of a cliff, this is a fundamental change to the way we work, how we make decisions and how we are viewed by the outside world," he said.

"It runs the risk of saddling us with a system of governance which is not fit for purpose."

He told the chamber he'd been cajoled into having talks with the other party leaders and even offered them "multi-party cabinets" to try and keep the current model intact, only to see them "steamroller through" the change.

Labour Cllr Geoff Williams said "at no time" had the Tories called for change whilst in power while Cllr Chris Cawthorne, who is part of the scrutiny group looking into governance, said she felt "betrayed" and Cllr Matt Lamb said it reminded him about "the story of the fox and the sour grapes" as a child.

But Cllr Bayliss said if they waited until February for a vote, it will be too late to implement at May's Annual Council meeting, and would therefore be delayed until 2018.

He also said he had come “convinced” of the case for change after talking to the Tory group leader in Stroud about it, who was “vehemently against it” when they made the change but would now never go back.

“This isn’t a leap in the dark, it’s a tried and tested system that’s ran for over 100 years – what we know is that the current cabinet system does not work well with one party in minority control and we should not be trying to soldier on,” he said.

Several other Tories backed him up, with Cllr Gareth Jones, a veteran first elected in 1993, saying he hated the cabinet system because it hands power to a “handful” of people.

Cllr Alan Feeney added: “I’ve never worked with a committee system, but what we’ve got now isn’t working.”

Several Labour councillors said it was impossible to feel anything but cynical about the change, not least because the Conservatives are arguing for it now they are out of power.

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Some also called for a pilot, and more talks after the scrutiny review had looked at it properly, but they were voted down.

The result last night was a significant victory for the Green Party locally and nationally, which wants committee systems nationwide and has succeeded in getting them in place in areas like Brighton.

It comes despite them only having two city councillors, using their 'kingmaker' status to help the Conservatives force a change.

It was also a bitter blow for Labour, which had taken control of the city council back in May under a coup which saw the Tories lose their grip on power – ironically thanks to the Guildhall’s two Green councillors agreeing to prop up a minority Labour administration under a ‘confidence and supply’ deal.

There are currently 16 Labour councillors, 17 Tory and two Greens, and no elections are scheduled next year – meaning the Conservatives can expect an equal say in decision making and much more influence than now.

Since 2012 a chaotic succession of election results had led to a minority Tory leadership being propped up by two Lib Dems, the Lib Dems then swapping sides and voting in a Labour administration, and the Conservatives then regaining overall control only to lose it again, resulting in two Greens allowing Labour to get back in.

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WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

BACK in 2012 the Government changed the rules so councils could revert back to old-fashioned committee systems of rule, if they wished.

The policy came 12 years after the 2000 move to encourage all local authorities to have cabinet systems, which most did in the belief it would make decision-making simpler and allow town halls to mimic national Government.

Last night’s vote means Worcester City Council's current Labour cabinet, which contains six politicians, will be disbanded and replaced with dedicated committees which make decisions.

The expectation is that each key service area will have a committee of several councillors, with a mix of Labour, Conservative and possibly a Green.

So for example, an 'environment committee' would look after bin collections, parks and open spaces while an 'economic committee' could be created for car parking charges and regeneration initiatives.

But there would still be a council leader, and the budget will still require a vote at full council each February.

Worcester City Council's new model will come into force next May, with the next few months being used to draw up the new system and have some form of public consultation.

Last night Sheena Ramsey, the managing director, said her staff would “make sure a new governance system will work”.