91Èȱ¬

After the general election in the days when we were all trying to understand how the business of coalition government would work, I visited where they were well used to the process. There is a coalition of Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and the For Darwen party who run the council.

I am returning there for this week's 91Èȱ¬ Politics Show because as the coalition is now in danger of collapse. Labour is preparing to move a motion of no confidence in the administration next week.

It's because two For Darwen councillors have left the party to become independent. That leaves the Labour group and the coalition on equal numbers. It is not clear who the two independents will support in the confidence vote.

But why have they quit? One of them - Cllr Trevor Maxfield - was responsible for leisure services. He was not prepared to chop that budget, arguing larger savings could be made elsewhere.

There's a similar story in the chamber of , which is responsible for Runcorn and Widnes. There, four Liberal Democrats have left the party to go independent.

Halton is a Labour council and so those Lib Dems were not going to be directly responsible for the coming budget cuts anyway. Their resignations were a protest against the national party and the policies of the ruling coalition.

In particular, they believe government policies have hurt more deprived areas, such as Runcorn, more than richer parts of the country. They point to the scrapping of the area based grants which supported poorer areas.

"I was not elected to be a Tory," Cllr Bob Bryant told me.

One councillor in Liverpool, Ian Jobling, moved from the Liberal Democrats to Labour last month. While in Manchester, Cllr Ken Dobson has also left the Liberal Democrats but will sit as an independent. Again both spoke out against spending cuts, though the Lib Dems say they actually refused Cllr Dobson the right to stand again.

Is this evidence of council groups fracturing due to financial pressure? It's worth remembering that councillors often jump ship, not always for reasons of high principle. Indeed that the bigger story is actually how few political refugees there have been.

Cllr Simon Ashley, the Liberal Democrat group leader in Manchester, says: "These people didn't mind standing for the party and getting elected using our platform. Now when it gets tough, they're off.

"Well, I'd rather they go than stay and spoil the party I'm in."

The Lib Dems say that since the general election they have signed-up an extra 200 new members in the region.

Nevertheless there are worries here for the central parties. As budget cuts bite, the political pressure will increase and more councillors will be fearful of being associated with them.

No wonder the Liberal Democrats say they have invited the four defectors to their annual conference to win them back around.

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