Labour and Lib Dems pledge partnership to run Shrewsbury Town Council

It follows the local Conservative group losing control of the authority in Saturday's count, which saw the Tories lose half their seats on the town council as their representation dropped from ten seats to five.

It left no party in overall control, with Labour having seven seats and the Liberal Democrats having five.

Councillor Miles Kenny, leader of the Shrewsbury Liberal Democrats on the town council, said today that after speaking to both the Labour and Conservative leaders he was in favour of the deal.

"There has to be fairly radical changes on the town council and we don't think the Tory group is going to do this," he said.

"We are after a much more grass-roots, community-based town council. We are closer to the Labour group than the Tory group."

He said that with Labour having the highest number of seats on the town council, the Liberal Democrats feel they should have control of the chair roles on the authority.

The partnership deal has not yet officially been confirmed, with the Liberal Democrat group due to meet later this week.

On Saturday, Councillor Alan Mosley, leader of the Labour group, said: "We will be looking to take the chairs of the town council.

"We will be recognising the town council is local and we need to connect with the people of Shrewsbury more closely and listen to their views on the way they want to see Shrewsbury moving forward. We need to ensure we are doing our utmost to bring jobs to Shrewsbury."

Before Thursday's election, the Conservatives had 10 town councillors in Shrewsbury, with Labour having four representatives and the Liberal Democrats three.

Labour won the Column, Monkmoor and Sundorne wards from the Conservatives, with the Liberal Democrats taking Bagley and Quarry and Coton Hill.

The next meeting of the town council is on May 14 at the Walker Theatre inside Theatre Severn, starting at 6pm.