THE deputy Mayor of Worcester has urged councillors to put their squabbles to one side and "work together" for the good of the city.

Cllr Steve Mackay has made a plea for politicians of all sides to "try" and find some common ground once the current Labour cabinet leadership is axed in May.

It came as rival Labour and Conservative councillors clashed once again over the governance make-up at the Guildhall, which will see a new committee system of rule in place by late spring.

Angry Labour councillors used a debate during a scrutiny meeting to criticise the shake-up, saying there was a lack of evidence change was needed.

Cllr Mackay, a Tory who is expected to become city mayor later this year, said: "We will never see eye-to-eye on policies, I accept that.

"The different parties will never agree completely, one side has their view and the other has theirs.

"But the key to making this system work is to try to work together even if we have different views on things - if you can't work together, you can't work."

During the meeting Labour councillors tore into an in-house scrutiny investigation on alternative governance models, which included a questionnaire for councillors.

As we reported last week 20 councillors took part in the questionnaire, with Tory ones saying the current cabinet system is not working, while Labour ones backed the status quo.

Labour Cllr Matt Lamb said: "Having read the scrutiny report I'm mystified, I just don't know what the conclusion from it is.

"And the (councillor's) survey, let's be honest it was so partisan as to be ridiculous."

Fellow Labour Cllr Elaine Williams said: "The idea we'll become all friendly and chummy is ridiculous."

She said the opposition Conservative group leader Cllr Marc Bayliss, who chairs the scrutiny committee, "seems to be suggesting we need proportional representation, that's not the basis we were elected."

Labour councillors Geoff Williams and Chris Cawthorne also criticised the change, with Cllr Williams saying the Conservatives never called for a different governance model when they ran the council with the help of two independents for several years before 2012.

"If you look at this report's recommendations, it does not point you towards a committee system," he said.

Cllr Bayliss told him the laws allowing different governance models only came in five years ago.

He added: "There is plenty of evidence in this scrutiny report about the stark difference of opinion between the parties, depending on what side you are on in this council."

The cabinet system is being ripped up after the city's two Green Party councillors sided with the Conservatives, and is non-reversible for five years without holding a referendum.

At the moment Labour has 16 city councillors compared to two Green and 17 Tory.