LABOUR councillors will use a key council meeting to try and force Conservative and Lib Dem opponents to back a campaign to keep Army bases in York.

On Thursday York Labour’s Cllr James Flinders is putting forward a motion to council, calling for council executives to lobby against the closure.

He said: “The proposals to sell off the city’s Army barracks are something we strongly oppose. As well as the great number of direct jobs that will be lost, the closures will also impact indirectly on the employment of those family members not serving in the military. It will mean falling school rolls and declining spend in the local economy, impacting local businesses.

“This motion provides an opportunity for the council to speak with one voice by saying we oppose this plan, and oppose pushing the Army into a series of super-barracks that have been proven not to work.”

However, the Conservative group - who jointly hold control of the council with the Lib Dems - have already shown they do not support the Labour push.

Conservative leader Cllr David Carr, and the Lib Dem deputy leader Cllr Keith Aspden wrote to the Ministry of Defence earlier this month, asking what assessments had been done on the impact the closures would have on York, and pushing for clarification on jobs. That letter already shows “extreme concern”, a Tory group spokesperson said, and they will try and amend Cllr Flinder’s motion to take that into account.

However, the Labour leader Cllr Janet Looker said this reduces York’s long-standing links to the forces to “little more than a side issue”, and is “hugely disrespectful” to the armed forces.

She said: “Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are both happy to see York’s army barracks closed and sold off. They would prefer to see both sites stacked with new housing, so that they can remove planned housing sites in other wards that they represent as part of the city’s emerging development plan.

“It is also indicative of Conservatives’ gradual move away from being a party that was once seen as supportive of the country’s armed forces.”