By Julian Whittle

Last updated 14:54, Monday, 04 August 2008

The Conservative and Liberal Democrat alliance that has run Cumbria County Council since 2001 is over.

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Stewart Young: Way open to take over

The Liberal Democrats today quit the power-sharing agreement saying that trust between the parties had irrevocably broken down.

The way is now open for Labour’s Stewart Young to take over from Tory Tim Stoddard as council leader. Labour is the largest party on the hung council.

The Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition was plunged into turmoil last week when Mr Stoddard ordered that deputy leader Joan Stocker be stripped of her cabinet responsibilities for finance and performance.

He blamed her after auditors found serious errors in the accounts.

The Liberal Democrats demanded that Mrs Stocker be reinstated and given an “unequivocal apology”.

The Conservatives responded by tabling peace proposals, which would have allowed her to stay in the cabinet with a new portfolio.

But the Liberal Democrats today rejected the offer.

The party issued a statement saying: “Effective working of the partnership relies on there being trust, respect and confidence between the two groups.

“Because of the recent unilateral actions by the Conservative leadership, these no longer exist and are not likely to in the near future.”

Mrs Stocker and fellow Liberal Democrat Ian Stewart have resigned from the cabinet. Mrs Stocker has also resigned from her role as deputy leader.

Mrs Stocker said: “It’s not just about portfolios or apologies.

“It’s simply that the events of the last two weeks have led to a breakdown in trust between the groups.

“The Liberal Democrat group cannot see how we can continue to work with the current Conservative leadership.”

Mr Stoddard declined to comment this morning.

The Liberal Democrats’ decision has created a power vacuum at the council where no one party has overall control.

Labour is likely to enter talks with the Liberal Democrats about forming a joint administration.

Even if those talks fail, Labour’s Stewart Young looks certain to be elected leader when the council next meets on September 10.

But under the council’s constitution he would then be forced to accept a “politically-proportionate” cabinet made up of four Labour councillors, three Conservatives and one Liberal Democrat. Insiders believe that would be a recipe for chaos.

Mr Young said: “Tim Stoddard’s actions have made this inevitable. There now need to be early discussions about forming a new administration.”

Mr Stoddard precipitated the crisis by firing Mrs Stocker by email last Sunday. He was incensed that monies had been wrongly allocated in the accounts for the second year running.

Although no cash is missing, the mistakes have ruined any chance the council had of improving its lowly two-star performance rating from the Audit Commission. Mrs Stocker said the errors had nothing to do with her and claimed she was being made a “scapegoat”.

JWhittle@cngroup.co.uk