YORK council chief Steve Galloway has criticised the city's opposition group for not moving with the times after his party came under fire for adopting an "arrogant approach" to the authority's new constitution.

City of York Council's Labour group claims the Lib Dem proposals for the constitution are "extremely bad for local democracy", will stifle debate and make it difficult to hold the leading party to account.

The document goes before a special full council meeting tonight, when the Labour group will suggest ways it should be changed "to prevent democratic debate and proper scrutiny of decisions being shut down".

Coun Dave Merrett, the Labour leader, said: "Steve Galloway is determined to minimise proper democratic debate and restrict the ability of opposition members to have an influence on the decision-making process."

He said the suggestion the executive should receive extra advance notice of questions by Labour was "so they have longer to get their excuses ready".

Coun Galloway said: "The intention of the constitution is to guarantee the rights of York residents to be involved in the process and be confident it is dealt with fairly.

"We are streamlining the process so that decisions are taken quickly and we will be able to get on with implementation in what is a fast moving world. To be effective, we have to move into the 21st century, which is what we trying to do."

Updated: 09:10 Thursday, April 27, 2006