The Tories and Liberal Democrats on Bradford Council have struck an unlikely partnership to smash Labour's decade of domination in the city.

After the Labour Party's ten years at the helm, Tory leader Councillor Margaret Eaton is poised to take on the top job - Council leader - at Britain's fourth biggest metropolitan council.

The move - which will see Coun Eaton becoming the first woman leader in the Council's 153 year history - was sealed after the Tories and Lib Dems signed an official agreement over the leadership.

They sought a three-party power-sharing line-up with Labour, but the offer was refused.

Coun.Eaton will assume the mantle from Coun Ian Greenwood who has led the council for two years.

The Tories and Lib Dems have 48 councillors between them in the Council chamber - allowing them to outvote the wounded Labour Party by seven votes at the council's annual general meeting on Tuesday when the battle for the leadership will be decided.

But a defiant Coun Greenwood is refusing to accept the deal and will again stand for the top job.

Both the Tories and Lib Dems insist the agreement is not a pact or coalition, but purely a deal for operational reasons, and they want three-party power sharing with Labour.

The Council has been in turmoil over the leadership of the hung Council since Labour's rout in the recent local elections.

But it was clear after a private meeting yesterday of all three groups that Labour would not join with the others and intended to propose its own group leader Ian Greenwood as head of the Council.

The Council is also facing a troublesome immediate future in its decision-making process.

Labour has agreed to sit on the powerful executive committee - the Council's own Cabinet which takes the district's key decisions. But it has declined the offer of portfolio jobs - where "super councillors" have responsibility for services.

Coun Greenwood said his party would work in the scrutiny committees, however, which put issues and executive committee decisions under the miscroscope.

He says he will put forward a programme for the benefit of the district when his group proposes him for the leadership next week.

"If I am not successful, we will take the view that there was a secret pact and the control of the Council is now in the hands of a coalition."

He said his group would deal with its role on the council in a thoughtful and constructive way.

But leader of the Liberal Democrat group Councillor Jeanette Sunderland said Labour had been offered key jobs and declined them.

"I am very, very, very disappointed. Whatever pact he believes is there is in his imagination.

"He has run Bradford saying we have got to become a 'can do' city. Now he is saying he can't do."

Labour - which has four more seats than the Tories - says it should get the top job because it has the highest number of seats on the hung council.

But the Liberal Democrats and Tories say the electorate has given the clear message that it does not want a Labour leadership.

Labour lost 13 seats, while the Tories gained 11 and the Liberal Democrats, one in the elections. The first Green party councillor, David Ford, was also elected .

Coun Eaton said today: "The agreement is not about personal ambition, but the good of the district.

"I believe in an open council, and for ten years we have had minimal information. I hope it will end ten years of cronyism and patronage."

Coun Eaton added: "This is not a coalition and we will no doubt have major disagreements on policy development. But we have a will to deal with them for the good of the district."

Both parties support the 2020 vision - a strategy taking the district into the millennium.

They agree education should be the key focus, with standards driven up and the service funded at least to the amount in the present budget strategy - but the Lib Dems are against any proposals to bring in a private partner to help run the district's schools.

Coun Greenwood said: "Both groups have complained about secrecy in the past but it is clear they had a secret deal to their own electoral advantage. It is unbelievable and is the most secretive thing to happen in City Hall for a very long time. This does not bode well for the future."

T&A Opinion

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