POLITICAL negotiations are under way this week to establish a power-sharing administration for Cumbria's principal local authority.

All three political parties with seats on Cumbria County Council has formed a negotiating team of three people and are due to conduct crucial talks this week to establish which one will hold power for the next four years.

The political landscape of the county mirrors the national picture with no single party holding enough seats in Cumbria to rule with a majority.

The situation is set to force a coalition agreement between two of the three parties in order for them to secure the minimum 43 seats needed to take control.

CCC has existed without an administration for an unprecedented four weeks after coalition discussions were halted for the remainder of the general election campaign.

Now, dialogue has begun in earnest - with four behind-doors meetings scheduled to be held over the course of the next four days as potential alliances between different parties are talked over.

The clock is ticking for a solution to be found before the deadline of Thursday, June 29 - when CCC's annual general meeting is reconvened and a council leader, deputy leader, chairman, vice-chairman and cabinet committee must be appointed.

Councillor Ian Stewart, leader of Cumbria's Liberal Democrat group, said: "A series of meetings are taking place.

"It is a complicated situation but there should be some clarity by the end of the week."

Councillor James Airey, Conservative group leader, said: "We are meeting with both the Liberal Democrats and Labour Group to discuss the future options for the running of the county council.

"We secured 44 per cent of the vote and are the largest single party on the county council, but we fell just and so short of a majority.

"We would expect there will be an announcement at the end of the week," he added.

The local election was held in Cumbria on May 4.

It saw voters head to the polls to select representatives for each of the county's 84 wards.

The outcome left the Conservative party with 37 seats, Labour with 26 and the Liberal Democrats with 16 while five independents were also elected.

Prior to May's local election, power within CCC was held by a Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition.

A statement issued with the agreement of all three party leaders on the issue claimed no agreement could be reached until after the results of the general election became known.

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