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Tories demand to take control
WIRRAL'S Tory leader came out fighting after last night's ballot box success by demanding his group must now take total control of the authority.
As voters gave Labour a bruising - four wards were lost to Conservatives making them the largest single council group - Cllr Jeff Green told the Labour and Liberal Democrats to "stand aside".
He insists that a Labour/LibDem coalition which was formed to seize power at the town hall 12 months ago must now be scrapped allowing Tory rule.
And he says the first thing they will do is torpedo Wirral's "outrageous and unwanted bin tax" - a new bylaw brought in under the guidance of Liberal Demorcats to fine people £100 for failing to follow their wheelie-bin recycling rules.
He said: "The people of Wirral have told Labour and the LibDems that they do not want this backroom-dealing coalition to carry on.
"Labour and the LibDems should remember it's not about the egos of individual councillors clinging onto power - it's about the people they represent. And the ballot box has told them in no uncertain terms that there is no trust in this pact.
"I'm sure the electorate would be disgusted if this coalition does decide to limp on in some Mugabesque deal."
Last night, Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Simon Holbrook said that it was too early to make a decision: "It is up to the Tories to come to us with their ideas. I'm not ruling anything in and I'm not ruling anything out.
"Our agreement with the Labour group was only scheduled to last for 12 months. We will have to have some time to think about where we go from here."
The Labour leader and current leader of the council Steve Foulkes, meanwhile, said there would no quick decisions made before the results could be analysed properly.
"I am not going to make any decisions in haste," he said. "My first priority as leader is to my group and we will be meeting on Sunday to discuss what happened at the election.
"We have to recognise the democratic decision that has been made by the voters, but the last thing you should do either personally or politically after a night like that is to make any rash decisions.
"The Tories have to have their own annual general meeting yet and they can be a fractious lot. It's not beyond them to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
"So we'll meet as a group on Sunday to analyse what's happened and understand what has gone wrong.
"Clearly, though, we are no longer the largest party which have us some legitmacy, so we'll have to look at and deal with that."
The Conservative group now has 24 seats, Labour 21 and LibDems 20. There is one Independent Conservative councillor.
A surprise result of the Mayday poll was that Leasowe ward was gained from Labour by the Tories, an event which has never happened since the reorganisation of local government in 1974.
1:28pm Friday 2nd May 2008
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