THE man at the centre of a Town Hall row following the farcical annual council meeting says he did what was right.

Labour member Clr John Morris has been heavily criticised after the meeting last month which took so long to complete, it was spread over two days.

But speaking exclusively to the Warrington Guardian, he said his actions were taken merely to protect the integrity

of the council.

The dispute centred around whether the new Lib Dem/Tory leadership could cut the crucial executive board from 10 members to eight.

After Clr Morris raised the point, the meeting was held up while the council's legal advisors checked the situation out.

It was eventually ruled he was right although all parties have now agreed a thorough review of the constitution.

Clr Morris said: "The reason for raising this was a real

concern that if the appointment to the executive board was unconstitutional, the decisions could be over turned.

"The decisions could have been challenged at a higher legal level and cost this council thousands of pounds.

"The cost of this would not be good for the people of Warrington and in my view would have been dangerous.

"It is unfortunate that people did not understand these concerns and criticised the Labour group for playing political games."

In the weeks following the meeting, Labour councillors have been attacked for deliberately slowing the meeting and being unable to accept their election defeat.

Senior Labour councillors say the new administration is trying to run before it can walk.

The next full council meeting takes place later this month. Round two

gdunning@guardiangrp.co.uk