AT first glance, a part of Councillor Dave Smith's comments (Letters, April 27) makes no sense whatsoever -- he states that Blackburn with Darwen Council's proposed cabinet "will only be able to make recommendations to a public, all-party, committee meeting."

Well, if this is the case, the only effect of the 'gang of eight' would be to slow down the entire decision-making process because there is already an all-party committee structure in operation which makes the final decisions.

Furthermore, before every committee meeting, there are briefing meetings between the council officers and chairmen and vice-chairmen of each committee. So what is the point of it all? On careful examination, the agenda of the Special Meeting of the Council on March 30, given to me by a local councillor, makes the picture become far clearer. Under the heading entitled the Executive Board, the following statement appears: "However, until new legislation allows, the Executive Board will make recommendations..."

The conclusion to be drawn from this statement is quite clear. It is, that as soon as this new legislation is passed, the Executive Board (cabinet) will not be under any obligation to make recommendations to any committees and only does so at the moment because of current legislation, which is soon to be changed by the central government.

It is, therefore, in my opinion, totally wrong for Coun Smith and the Labour party to mislead the public, both in the press and election leaflets, by not giving them the full picture.

Once the legislation has been changed, there is no guarantee of this cabinet having to only make recommendations.

They are "playing with words" in an attempt to conceal their true intentions from a public which is, for the most part, against this 'cabinet-style' government and a substantial number of Labour councillors and members who also oppose it.

Name and address received.