UNION leaders have warned they could “fall out” with the new Labour administration over “radical” co-operative council reforms.

Union figures issued the warning after Brighton and Hove City Council leader Warren Morgan detailed a vision of services run by mutuals and community groups in The Argus yesterday.

GMB's Mark Turner said he had received assurances from coun Morgan about the continuity of the existing Cityparks and indicated any reforms would be fiercely resisted.

Conservative councillors accused Labour of four years of failure to support modernising ideas while Green members said Labour needed to do more to oppose austerity in the wake of Chancellor George Osborne’s latest call for savings of up to 40%.

Coun Morgan said his administration would explore cooperative council principles citing examples of friends’ groups running parks and housing co-operatives.

Mr Turner said that CityParks and Cityclean services had been “successfully run” since coming back in house more than a decade ago, saving the authority £10 million.

He said: “We are not saying that third sector parties can’t do these services but there are concerns about staff retaining their jobs and pay and conditions.

“The suggestion that parks could be run by community groups goes against assurances given to us.

“If that was the case, then I think we could fall out with Warren as much as we fell out with the Green administration.”

Conservative group leader Geoffrey Theobald said: “We have been putting forward ideas to modernise how the council works for the last four years and on virtually every occasion we were thwarted by councillor Morgan and his colleagues.

“For him now to pin the blame solely on the Greens for the Labour Group not being able to implement more radical reform straight away is the ultimate in bare-faced cheek.”

Coun Theobald added greater council powers were not reliant on elected mayors with the onus on Greater Brighton councils to bring devolution proposals to the Government for consideration.

Green financial spokesman Ollie Sykes said Labour was in danger of presiding over a “bleeding stump" approach in failing to challenge central government cuts and allowing vital services to be “lost or severely damaged”.

He said: “While the Greens fully appreciate the important role of the community groups and voluntary organisations in the city and the power of partnership work with them, we believe there are limits to what can realistically be gained from outsourcing while ensuring consistent standards and accountability.”