COUNCIL leader Warren Morgan has admitted his frustration over the slow progress of his administration's first year in office.

In an exclusive interview with The Argus, Councillor Morgan blamed the political system for holding progress in the city back.

Under the committee system, opposition councillors can veto decisions proposed by the minority Labour administration.

His Conservative and Green rivals accused Cllr Morgan of "political opportunism" and "hypocrisy" over his comments.

Meanwhile Brighton Kemptown MP Simon Kirby criticised the council for failing to reveal its rescue plan for the crumbling Madeira Terraces.

Cllr Morgan said constantly having to seek committee consent was slowing up plans for the council's flagship policies, such as its1,500 affordable homes plan.

Speaking of his frustrations of his first year in office, he said: “For any politician they would say give me a majority and give me power to deliver what people elected us to deliver.

"In Brighton and Hove we weren’t given that majority and we don’t have the cabinet system which almost every other council of any size from district up has, which gives the administration power to take decisions.

“Obviously here we have to navigate the politics of two opposition groups who are always there to see where they can gain some political advantage.

“I’ve always sought to put the city first and sometimes the opposition have gone along with that and sometimes they haven’t.”

Councillor Geoffrey Theobald, Conservative group leader, said it was a “very convenient” excuse to pin a “lack of progress” on the committee system.

He said: “It is more the fact that for the first four months or so of his administration, hardly anything happened – they clearly weren’t geared up to take over and didn’t have a delivery plan which they could have implemented from the word go.

“And accusing us of political opportunism is a bit rich coming from Cllr Morgan, who spent his time as leader of the Labour opposition making all his group’s decisions on that basis.”

Green convenor Phelim MacCafferty said it was "curious" that Cllr Morgan now favoured the cabinet system after voting twice to reintroduce the committee system in the past.

He added: “ This is an undemocratic move which smacks of hypocrisy.

“Accountability for decisions is vital in a city which in 12 years has not given any one party an outright majority.

"Labour don’t have a majority and shouldn’t expect to win on every decision.”

One of the most contentious issues of Cllr Morgan's administration has been its failure to reveal a rescue plan for the Madeira Terraces.

Writing in The Argus today, Mr Kirby said: "Despite a grant of £50,000 from the Department for Communities and Local Government to help kick-start their revival, the council continues to postpone revealing their plans.

"Local people are waiting anxiously to hear how the Council intend to proceed regarding this iconic part of our seafront."

Cllr Morgan wants the council to revert to a cabinet system next year but admitted any change would have to wait until after the 2019 elections.

Under the existing system, proposals are voted on by cross-party committees while under the cabinet system the lead political party has more power to have the final say as the cabinet is full of councillors from the ruling party.

The council has yo-yoed between the two systems, adopting the cabinet system in 2008 only to revert to committee four years later.