THE council’s cabinet holds too much power and more councillors should be involved in decisions, Colchester’s former Lib Dem MP has said.

Colchester’s High Steward and former mayor and MP Sir Bob Russell made the claim as a public speaker at the meeting yesterday.

Sir Bob questioned the existing cabinet system and said more power should be shared across the chamber - leading to cheers from Conservative councillors.

He said: “The whole concept of cabinet government is opposed to having proper local government democracy.

“Only one of the councillors elected this month will be central to the decision making process.

“It is time to take back control and I believe excluding the largest group of councillors from the decision making process is not democratic.”

Council leader Mark Cory said the authority was open to changing things to bring improvements. He said: “We want to be as inclusive as possible. We are trying to include as many people as possible and I will entertain any ideas to make things better.”