THE head of Worcester's Green Party has revealed why he backed Labour in the city council leadership battle - calling a change "unnecessary".

Last week the council's two Green politicians used their 'king-maker' status to allow Labour Councillor Adrian Gregson to stay on as leader by 18 votes to 17.

For the first time ever he must now work alongside a Conservative deputy leader, Cllr Marc Bayliss, under the new committee system.

Green Councillor Louis Stephen said: "Before now we've had a Labour leadership where one party has had all the power, but now with the new system everything's split down the middle.

"Under the committee system the leader and deputy leader's roles are interchangeable, they are paid almost the same amount of money and they will share the responsibilities.

"Effectively there is no real difference, one of them had to be made leader but next year it might be different, we'll have to see.

"We are in turbulent times on the council, we didn't feel it was right to make unnecessary changes if it didn't actually make a significant difference to the council."

His remarks come after serious Tory criticism, with Labour allowed to keep the leader's role despite the Conservatives being the largest party at the Guildhall.

Cllr Stephen had refused to reveal his position until the night of the vote, leaving both main parties on tenterhooks in recent weeks.

The Tory group has slated the two Greens for always voting with Labour.

Conservative Councillor Chris Mitchell said: "Marc (Bayliss) is one of the few people who has genuinely tried to reach out across the parties to try and build a better relationship.

"There's a fundamental issue - the Greens cannot bring themselves to vote against Labour."

The Conservatives say that during the last 16 votes in full council meetings, four have been approved on a cross-party basis but on the other 12 occasions, the Greens have sided with Labour every time.

Meanwhile, it has also emerged that the Labour leader and Tory deputy will share visits to important Worcestershire-wide bodies like the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and Worcestershire Leader's Board.