NORTHUMBERLAND County Council’s first official meeting of 2022 descended into a “shambles” as bosses rowed over changes following last year’s Tory by-election loss.

The local authority’s ruling Conservative group lost its grip on the county’s Hexham East ward and with it their majority of the county council in the December contest.

The Liberal Democrat victory prompted a need for an overhaul of positions allocated to the local authority’s six recognised political groupings.

But tempers flared as councillors raged against alleged mistakes in official recommendations and an attempt by the council’s leadership to halt the session.

“We’ve established that there are multiple errors in this report,” said Scott Dickinson, leader of the opposition Labour group, referring to a paper drawn up by the county council’s top lawyer.

“The council has had multiple opportunities to present this report properly and in a timely fashion, I have raised throughout the week issues and concerns with its presentation.

“We all note that there are multiple errors and no confidence in the mathematics.

“This needs to be voted down and a new proposal with an accurate report circulated properly.”

Coun. Dickinson was speaking at Wednesday’s (January 5) meeting of all members of Northumberland County Council to kickstart 2022, the first held since November last year.

Concerns over the report centred on the number of seats on council committees accurately reflecting the new make-up of the council chamber, following December’s by-election.

Some councillors claimed to have received up to four versions of the document ahead of the debate starting.

An attempt to shut the meeting down and restart it within the next two week was rejected, with several members of the ruling Conservative group voting against their leadership to defeat the proposal.

Eventually, a proposal by council leader Glen Sanderson to revise the report and put it to councillors again at a later date was accepted.

He told the meeting: “I think we’ve reached stage where we’re not going to get agreement and it’s very important we try and get agreement across parties.

“I know it’s not perfect, but let’s just move on, please, for the sake of keeping everybody together."