A ROW has broken out between Cumbria county councillors after several were “removed” from a meeting of the cabinet.

Leader of the opposition, James Airey, said he and others were “shocked and angered” after being excluded by council leader, Stewart Young, when details of the council’s new headquarters at Carlisle were discussed.

Coun Airey, for Ulverston, said: “To exclude democratically elected members from a meeting of cabinet is disgraceful. In all my time as a councillor I have never known this to happen.

“It is quite clear that following the local elections we have moved into a new era of secrecy and mistrust.

“Just what has Stewart Young got to hide? Have the costs for his new ivory tower on Botchergate spiralled beyond the huge £10m already proposed? Or is something more sinister going on?

“Whatever the reason Stewart seems to behaving more like the despot leader of North Korea than the leader of a democratic county council.”

The plans were discussed during the ‘part two’ section of the meeting, when traditionally members of the press and public are asked to leave.

Coun Young, who became leader of the council after the Tories were ousted in May, said it is “quite normal” for non-cabinet members to also be excluded.

“My predecessor, Eddie Martin, used to allow non-cabinet members to stay in the room which isn’t the normal practice and wasn’t the normal practice prior to Eddie becoming leader,” he explained.

“So at this meeting I reverted to normal procedure and asked them to leave - and have been compared to the ‘despot leader of North Korea’ as a result.

“It’s something and nothing really.”

But Coun Airey said he would not expect the incident to happen again, adding: “I will be raising the matter at the next full council and will expect an assurance that this exclusion will not occur again.”