A senior member of a council has resigned.

Deputy leader of Swale council, Cllr Mike Baldock (Swale Independent Alliance), has decided to leave his post in the face of the Labour Group “demanding complete control” of decision making.

Cllr Baldock, who represents Borden and Grove and is the head of Swale council’s planning committee, took to social media this morning (December 7) to announce his resignation.

He said in a post that Labour sought to take control of administerial decisions giving them “an absolute veto on every issue”.

This would give the party powers to impose decisions on the other groups in the coalition, Cllr Baldock claimed.

At present Labour holds 16 seats, with the Swale Independents (SIA) having 12 and the Green Party, the smallest member of the coalition, with three.

It is unknown who will replace Baldock as deputy head of the council.

Cllr Baldock said: “It is with great sadness that I have been left with no choice but to resign as deputy leader of Swale.

“This is not democracy. This is not collegiate working. This is not how coalitions work, and is not how you treat your partners in anything.

“The Swale Independents are about democracy, about balancing competing needs, and about working together with others for a common good.

“It is clear that the terms dictated by the Labour Group were totally unacceptable and there was no prospect of the SIA bowing down to such unreasonable behaviour.

“There, were, as always, some difficulties in running any coalition, but the last administration had lasted 4 years balancing the needs of 5 different groups.

“Sadly the current Labour Group couldn’t last one year without demanding complete control.”

The Labour Group has been approached for comment.