The three major groups on Cornwall Council have yet to come to an agreement over the future of Cornwall Council with negotiations continuing in to the night.
It had appeared yesterday afternoon that the Independents, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats had moved closer to a cross-party administration – in which the three groups would take all the seats on the council under an Independent leader.
However, talks stalled after the Conservatives failed to agree to a set of principles, agreed upon by the Liberals and Independents on how the council should be run.
The Western Morning News understands that Conservative proposals for a Cabinet, with three councillors from each group, a Liberal Democrat deputy, Tory chairman and Independent leader will be roughly the shape of the new cabinet if all three parties agree. However, there remains a distinct possibility that if the Conservatives don't sign up to a version of a set of principles put forward by Liberal leader Jeremy Rowe last week then they could still sit in opposition.
John Pollard, the Independent member for Hayle North looks set to become the new council leader if an agreement is made, but the Liberal Democrats are yet to reveal who the deputy is. Mr Rowe said the groups were "still in negotiation" and "hope to have something in place soon".
He said: "It is important that we make the right choice rather than the quickest choice and won't have a leader confirmed until the council meeting next Tuesday."
Mr Rowe, in a letter to all council leaders last week, set out a set of principles for all groups to agree on that would guide the council in its decision making. Those included to keep council tax fair, protect services, improve housing options and drive the economy to create jobs.
However, Conservative leader Fiona Ferguson said the principles were not a priority. She said: "I would be concerned if we spent a long time to try and agree a vision. I think people want to work together as best they can. I think if we would agree to a joint vision then the whole thing would fall apart. I am going to look at the vision and see where we go with that."
The Conservatives put forward John Dyer, the councillor for Chacewater and Kenwyn and former vice-chairman on the council, for the role for chairman.
The group, following the high profile defection of stalwart Mike Eathorne-Gibbons to the Independents, is the third biggest on the council with 30 seats, compared to the 36 each of the Liberal Democrats and the Independents. Most of the minority groups, including Labour and UKIP, are yet to declare whether they would join what could become a rainbow coalition. However, it seems likely both would decide to stand alone and not form a larger cross-party administration. Mebyon Kernow, the party for Cornwall, previously stressed it would wish to join a coalition with the larger groups.
