A row over free City Hall cream buns erupted when Tories said members should fork out the money for them.

The trolleys of buns, sandwiches and biscuits are wheeled into afternoon and evening Council meetings and councillors tuck in as they tackle their business.

The cost of the food to all City Hall meetings is running at £40,000 this year - £2,000 less than 1997.

But Council leader Coun John Ryan said they were negotiating a contract for even less in the coming year by eliminating waste and serving healthier food.

But the leader of the Council's Tory group, Councillor Margaret Eaton, said members and officers should lose weight - by relieving their pockets of loose change to pay for them.

She said Council Tax payers were footing the bill as hungry civic leaders tucked into increasing mounds of food.

But Councillor Ryan branded her claims nonsense and said councillors were doing voluntary work and the public would not begrudge them a cup of tea.

However, he said a report was being prepared about food being wasted because it was impossible to predict the number of members at the meetings.

Leader of the Council's Liberal Democrat group, Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, said she did not think the Council tax payers would begrudge members a sandwich for attending a meeting on their behalf after a hard day's work.

She added it would cost the authority even more if the trolleys were stopped and people started claiming meal subsistence allowances.

But Coun Eaton said she was appalled by the constant supply of food and drinks to more than 500 meetings a year.

And she claimed there were increasing amounts of food left on trolleys in City Hall corridors. She said: "It is true that many meetings are held at lunchtimes and I have no objection to snacks being made available. But I do think it is now time that we asked councillors to pay their own way."

She also called for a ban on free catering at informal political meetings - for example Labour Party planning groups attended by non-elected district Labour party representatives and trade unions.

But Coun Ryan hit back, saying there were few additional people there and trade union representatives were a necessary part of the consultation process.

"We have a Health Action Zone, £9 million Single Regeneration Budget award and major reorganisation of schools, and if this the best she can do I would question whether she is a serious opposition.

"It is a voluntary job which councillors do at the end of the day when they have finished work."

Coun Ryan said no breakdown of the food costs was available because it was part of the overall catering contract for City Hall.

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