[g jones]

I think it is all blown out of proportion. All Councillors work together 95% of the time. It is just not reported. In most cases Councillors of any flag do exactly the same 95% of the time. In most situations you would not tell if a Councillor was Labour Tory or Independent without being told.

For the remaining 5% it is important there is sense of direction. Independents mean there is never a positive forward agenda. They can't as they are Independent. Their free spirit amounts to pulling what exists to bits and loose promises. Political parties put to one side the sniping by Independents and make a commitment to work together to go forward.

That's why the Independents got together and put a collective budget forward acting as a Party this year and ended up debating their's verses other's.

Without groups, there is chaos. On Councils with rainbow coalitions there is often chaos and the public are even more poorly served.