Calls have been made for the leader and deputy leader of South Derbyshire District Council to step down.

The leadership of the Independent Group have called for a vote of no confidence in the authority's Labour leaders, Cllr Kevin Richards and Cllr Trevor Southerd.

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.

However, now the leaders of the independent Group, Cllr Martin Fitzpatrick and Cllr David Angliss have called for no confidence votes on both of the Labour leaders.

This relates to a move, also at that key May vote, for more than one opposition group to be given extra cash.

Before that vote only one opposition group gained extra taxpayer money for its leadership. The move meant an extra £6,940 would go to the leader and deputy leader of the then newly formed Independent Group. However, Cllr Fitzpatrick and Cllr Angliss say an amendment was added that only political parties registered at the Electoral Commission could gain the extra money, which the Independent Group is not. They write: "The South Derbyshire Independent Group stated clearly that the proposal had introduced a clear inequality to the council, that being that Independent councillors who wished to form an opposition group at SDDC were to be treated differently to those councillors who may belong to a political party recognised by the Electoral Commission. "To our group this was a clear case of 'all councillors are equal, but some are more equal than others'." Cllrs Fitzpatrick and Angliss say they "never asked" for the rule change regarding money for more than one opposition group and said any money would either be rescinded or given to charity. They say: "Our group cannot stand by and allow a clear inequality to exist at the heart of this council. "Whatever the best intentions of Cllr Richards' motion were and of Cllr Southerd in supporting and seconding Cllr Richards' proposal, in our opinion those intentions have been betrayed by the introduction of inequality into our council and it is for that reason only that our group are bringing this vote of no confidence in their leadership of this council." This quote has merged both of the two respective motions for clarity and brevity. When approached by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Cllr Richards said: "The motion appears to me to be of self-interest and seems to engineer a political change by attributing blame to the present leadership, when in fact the decision is a matter that has been determined by the full council and will again by decided by a majority decision." Cllr Southerd said: "I'm not prepared to give a comment at this moment in time. The reasons given seem spurious and of self-interest, I'll comment no further than that." A vote on the motions will take place at a full council meeting in Swadlincote on Thursday, January 20. If the motions go to a vote of no confidence and if the Independent Group does not back Labour councillors to replace Cllr Richards and Cllr Southerd then this could pave the way for the Conservative Group to regain control of the authority. The Conservatives would have to rely on the backing of their former colleagues in the Independent Group if this were to happen. Two independent councillors, who are also both former Conservatives, could also prove pivotal in any leadership vote. The current makeup of the council is: Labour, 15 councillors; Conservatives, 14 councillors; Independent Group, five councillors; and two independents.