Hours of debate and adjournments at Nelson Town Hall on Thursday saw a series of possibilities about who would run the council under discussion.

The Conservatives proposed a joint executive with four Liberal Democrats, three Conservatives and two Labour members, plus the new Liberal leader, Coun. John David, as leader of the council.

But the Liberals said they would not work with that. At one stage a joint executive with Tory Tony Beckett as council leader was proposed, but in the end it was agreed that Coun. David would be leader of the council and the Liberals would choose eight other representivatives to sit on the executive.

However, the Conservatives promised to be a tough opposition.
The Liberal Democrats had been in overall control for four years but the council is now "hung" following the local elections. The Liberals lost seven seats overall. The line-up is now: LibDem 20, Conservative 16, Labour 10, BNP 2 and one independent.

The members of the new council executive will be will be John David, Tony Greaves, Allan Buck, Sonia Robinson, David Clegg, David Whipp, Nadeem Ahmed, Ann Kerrigan and Graham Roach.