PARTY leaders are today preparing for crucial talks that could decide who runs York and how over the next four years.

The leaders of the Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Green groups are likely to begin discussions this week, after a dramatic election that left City of York Council hung and finely balanced.

The talks will include the possibility of parties forming a coalition and looking at whether the 'leader and cabinet' system should be scrapped and replaced with a more traditional system of cross-party committees, The Press understands.

That would mark a fundamental change in how council decisions are made and discussed.

The Liberal Democrats and Greens support the change in system, saying it would foster a more consensual politics after what they regard as an acrimonious few years.

Cllr Keith Aspden, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: "The committee system is a way of removing the cabinet system so all parties have a say on the way decisions are made.

"It's far more open and a less cliquey way of making decisions which is what we have experienced over the past four years."

However, the leader of the Labour Party Dafydd Williams said he had doubts over the committee system as there was greater accountability for decisions in the cabinet system.

He said: "I accept that no one has a mandate, in this situation there's going to have to be cooperation between the parties. What that cooperation looks like in practice, I don't know.

"There's a whole raft of scenarios."

Speaking yesterday, Cllr Chris Steward, leader of the Conservatives, said a coalition was "definitely a possibility" and something that would be considered.

He said: "I don't know if there's an appetite for formal coalition. There needs to be some kind of direction."

York's Green group leader Andy D’Agorne, who now heads a group of four Green councillors has called for all four political groups to be represented on the new administration.

He said: "No one party has an overall mandate from this result. A ‘rainbow cabinet’ in which all four parties are represented would be the best way to reflect the views of the electorate, at least in the short term. At the earliest opportunity we want to see more cooperative ways of working such as a revised committee system allowing more direct involvement by backbench councillors and residents in the important decisions facing the council."

All of the parties are expected to meet this evening for discussions, with party leaders saying they are likely to meet in the following days to try and find a way forward.

York Press:

The election count ended on Saturday morning with Labour winning 15 seats, to remain the largest party by a whisker.

The Conservatives won 14, nearly becoming the city's biggest party for the first time since the 1980s. The Liberal Democrats rose from nine seats to 12, belying their party's catastrophic results in the General Election, while the Greens went from two seats to four. Two independents were elected.

All group leaders have spoken of a desire for cross-party working to address York's biggest issues, such as securing the Local Plan, getting new housing built and tackling traffic congestion.

Opposition parties believe the council became too adversarial under former leader James Alexander, but his successor Cllr Dafydd Williams has said the leaders get on well and can work together on certain issues.