Bradford Council's all-Conservative executive has been assembled.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats have refused to take seats on the powerful decision-making body.

It has left the city with, in effect, a Conservative-run authority.

The executive has the power to make decisions without the approval of other committees or the Council itself.

Councillor Margaret Eaton will chair it and is expected to hand the following portfolios to her senior members.

Deputy Conservative leader Kris Hopkins will be given the corporate portfolio, Anne Hawkesworth will retain responsibility for the environment, Dale Smith is still at education, Martin Smith has the social services portfolio and Simon Cooke will hold on to his regeneration brief.

Coun Cooke is still under investigation by the councillors' watchdog after an outburst at a meeting which saw him raise his arm in a Nazi-style salute at Councillor Lynne Joyce.

Following his reappointment, he said: "I just want to get on with the job of making Bradford a better place."

There are now seven overview and scrutiny committees in the new set-up though they have been renamed improvement committees. Six are responsible for monitoring individual areas of the Council's corporate plan.

The seventh is the Tory-chaired corporate improvement commission which co-ordinates the work of the other committees and looks at the overall work of the authority.

The executive has the power to make major decisions. But if any of the improvement committees are unhappy with a decision, they have one opportunity to call it back.

The committee must then decide whether it will seek the backing of all 90 Council members by debating it at the full Council, or suggest to the executive that it makes changes.

However the executive is not bound by either and could make its final decision without taking the views of the committee or the Full Council into consideration.

Now Bradford has a Conservative-run executive there is likely to be conflict between it and the four committees chaired by Labour members.

However Gerry Danby, Bradford's legal and democratic services director, said the Council's system complied with Government directives and could cope with the new executive set-up.

He said: "I am confident that the legal framework is in place to deal with the changes created at the Annual General Meeting of the Council."