Labour councillors voted to press on with the six-month trial of their cabinet system on Tuesday last week despite a Conservative motion to open meetings to the public.

Conservative leader Councillor Ian Green said the council was not working democratically and proposed that the cabinet meet in public as the former committees did until the end of May.

He claimed the Government was considering a U-turn on its bill to modernise council decision-making following a public outcry about meetings closing to the press and public.

'Ealing is one of the 40 per cent of local authorities which slams its doors in the public's face when decisions are made.

'We can only rely on minutes, and the first set were so sparse, they gave us no idea of where the pressure points were,' Cllr Green said.

But the Labour administration voted for an amended motion by its leader Councillor John Cudmore, who said the council should press ahead with the original plan for a review of the modernisation process after six months. He said: 'The old system was one in which, unbeknown to the public, the real decisions were made by the majority group before the meetings.'

Conservative Councillor Ian Potts said in response: 'A decision is a process, and the majority group still had to answer in public to the criticisms of the other group, which they don't do now.'

Labour Councillor Stephen Sears stood up for his party's wait and see policy: 'We are not going to know whether this system allows better decision-making within a few weeks, which is why we have decided on six months.'