Liverpool's main opposition leader believes a potential new grouping of rebel Labour councillors would 'quickly disappear'.
Six city Labour councillors have been suspended by the party after announcing their plans to vote against the Labour budget at a crunch town hall meeting on Wednesday evening.
It is thought the six councillors, if removed fully from the party, could band together with three former Labour councillors to form a new political grouping.
If others were to join, the new group could challenge the Liberal Democrats to become the new official opposition to Labour on the council.
READ MORE: Tensions grow ahead of crunch Liverpool budget meeting as six councillors suspended by Labour
But Lib Dem chief Cllr Richard Kemp said he is not concerned by the prospect of such a challenge.
Writing in his regular blog today, the veteran councillor said: "In the medium to long term, I will make a prediction that this new grouping, if one is established, will quickly disappear. The extreme Left has a habit of splitting into smaller and smaller groups."
He suggested the group could be held together by Norris Green Councillor George Knibb - who is not one of the six to announce a voting intention and be suspended.
Cllr Kemp added: "He had some success as the Leader of ‘Ward Labour’ in keeping a radical left-wing presence in the Chamber for a few years at the turn of the century."
The Lib Dem leader said that in the meantime, he predicts the rebels will 'cause distraction' for Labour.
He added: "They will fight each other inside the city, in the council chamber and wards. That’s good for the Lib Dems as our united party fights for seats and to take control of the Council in 2023.
"However, a more worrying distraction would be if the Labour Cabinet took their eye off the ball, off the improvement journey that we as a council have agreed to take.
"Much needs doing to get the Council into becoming a high performing council which really provides the services that Liverpool needs at a price Liverpool can afford. Watching over the Cabinet’s every move are the omni-present Commissioners who would have no hesitation in reporting back to the Government if they thought the Cabinet was failing to take the hard decisions that are needed."
At this stage, there has been no confirmation a new grouping would be formed - but the ECHO understands there have been some discussions about a potential new Liverpool Community Party.
Cllr Kemp also hit out at the current Labour cabinet, who he labelled 'babes in the wood' owing to a number of them being in their 20s or early 30s, adding that they are 'totally out of their depth.'
Responding to Cllr Kemp, cabinet member Harry Doyle tweeted: "I can’t believe you have repeated the line “Babes in the woods” - You might say experience comes with age, but your record so far suggests otherwise."
All eyes will now be on the town hall tomorrow night to see if any other Labour councillors join with the group of rebels to vote against the mayor and cabinet's budget plans.
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