An attempt to dethrone South Derbyshire's political leadership has been called "deceitful, duplicitous and sleazy".

At a testy South Derbyshire District Council meeting, the Independent Group – a collection of former Conservatives – called for a no confidence vote in the authority's Labour leader and deputy leader.

However, the vote failed and only the Independent Group supported the move, with one councillor calling for the authority not to practice politics like the "current mire at Westminster".

Cllr Martin Fitzpatrick, Independent Group leader, said the move related to his group being treated unequally by the authority over extra money for leaders of opposition groups.

He said during the meeting that while this topic involved money (totalling £6,940 for his group), it was "not about money" and was solely about equality between councillors.

Cllr Fitzpatrick said his group would receive funding if it was an officially recognised party with the Electoral Commission, but did not because it is not registered.

He claimed the support of this by Cllr Kevin Richards (leader) and Cllr Trevor Southerd (deputy) had introduced inequality into the authority that could not be accepted.

Cllr Fitzpatrick told the meeting, on Thursday night (Jan 20) that his move was "not politically motivated, not malicious and does not have a hidden agenda".

He said Cllr Richards had done a "fantastic" but "very difficult" job but that the current policy around money for opposition leaders was not fair, saying his group did not even want the money and would donate it to charity.

Cllr Fitzpatrick made the move despite full council as a whole backing the policy for payments to opposition group, not Cllr Richards and Cllr Southerd individually.

Cllr Fitzpatrick's group had paved the way for their leadership of the authority last May.

In response, Cllr Richards told the meeting that the move from the Independent Group was an "attempt to engineer political change" and was "deceitful, duplicitous and sleazy".

Cllr Richards said the move was "nothing about equality".

He claimed it was a clear attempt from the group to "obtain leverage, gain favour and return to the fold (of the Conservative Group)".

Cllr Richards said decisions made by the council were "sacrosanct" and that the policy over funding for opposition groups came from an independent body and adopted by the authority by choice.

He said Cllr Fitzpatrick was "up to mischief" and "horse-trading", saying that "power at all costs will only bring instability to this authority".

Cllr Andrew Churchill, a former leader of the Conservative Group who now sits as an independent, said the night's vote was a "public demonstration of our integrity".

He said: "I believe that a reasonable member of the public may look at the motion and conclude that it has more to do with pay, power and prestige than either principles or the people we are supposed to be representing."

Cllr Churchill said the move was "not some run-of-the-mill political jockeying", but was "exceptional", due to it being the only vote of no confidence the council had ever considered since it was created in 1974.

He made clear that despite calling Cllr Richards a "gentleman and a leader" and being against the no confidence vote, this was "not a Bury South moment" where we would join the Labour Party.

Cllr Melanie Bridgen, leader of the Conservative Group, said councillors must act with "honesty, integrity and dignity in the best interests of the people of this local authority".

She said: "This is not about getting up to any shenanigans, it is about equality."

Cllr Bridgen said her group had discussed the issue at length and given it "serious consideration" and would not be supporting the vote. Her group abstained from the vote.

Labour took control of the authority in January last year for the first time since 2007 after Conservative Group infighting left them short of the required councillors to retain power.

Several members of the Conservative Group split to form the Independent Group, which backed Labour's Cllr Richards and Cllr Southerd in a crunch leadership vote in May.

Labour relied on the Independent Group's vote for the leadership roles across the council and have a minority control of the authority.

The current make-up of the council is: Labour, 15 councillors; Conservatives, 14 councillors; Independent Group, five councillors; and two independents.