Labour have taken control of Burnley Council as a minority administration.

In May 4's local elections Labour gained gained two seats meaning it now has 21 councillors, two short of the 23 which would have given it overall control.

The Liberal Democrats subsequently pulled out of the partnership which has been in charge of the authority for two years, and has now accused the Labour group of 'stumbling from one catastrophe to another' and of wasting money on vanity projects.

At Tuesday night's annual meeting of the council no other party contested the nomination of Labour leader Cllr Afrasiab Anwar as leader of the council.

This leaves party in charge of the borough as a minority administration relying on issue by issue support from the seven Conservatives, seven Lib Dems, seven Greens, and three Burnley and Padiham Independents who make up the rest of the council.

Cllr Anwar said: "We will focus on finishing the job we have started in terms of Pioneer Place, the Town to Turf project, Newtown Mill and the developments at Manchester Road railway station.

"Labour will focus on education and skills, creating jobs and tackling of cost of living.

"We want to further develop our two town centres in terms of visitors and footfall.

"There is no arrangement with the Lib Dems. They walked away. But we will always work with other groups for the benefit of Burnley and its residents."

Lib Dem group leader Cllr Gordon Birtwistle said: "I guess they will go on in the old Labour way of stumbling from one catastrophe to another and spending lots on money on things people don't want such as spending £6 million on making the way from Burnley town centre to Turf Moor pretty.

"We think that money should be invested in the borough's housing stock."

Green Party group leader Cllr Scott Cunliffe said: "Whilst Labour and the Lib Dems claim their coalition has ended, their strategic abstentions at the meeting make clear it is in full force.

"If they want to work together then that's up to them but the issue I take is the dishonesty to the public about their backroom agreement which is plain to see."

Conservative group leader Cllr Alan Hosker added: "This won't stop us from holding Labour to account on behalf of residents.

"We'll be doing everything we can to inject common sense into decision making."

Cllr Anwar has reduced the size of his executive from six members to five following the collapse of the partnership deal.

The new executive has Cllr Sue Graham as deputy leader and resources boss, Cllr Mark Townsend as executive member for growth, Cllr John Harbour as housing and green spaces boss, and Cllr Lubna Khan as executive member for community services and wellbeing.

Burnley and Padiham Independent group leader Cllr Mark Payne said: "The meeting went as anticipated."