TWO leading councillors are facing calls for their resignations in a row over an alleged cash crisis on Weymouth and Portland Borough Council.

Tories have called for Labour's Kay Wilcox and Anne Thomas, the chairman and vice-chairman of the influential policy and resources committee, to step down immediately.

They are demanding action following a damning District Auditor's report which said the council's financial position was "weak", that matters were "deteriorating" and that the whole accountancy team needed to improve its preparation process and the accuracy and presentation of its accounts.

The letter warned that if the current trend continued, then council balances could be exhausted in the next financial year.

Tories said they were appalled and claimed that the District Auditor's "extremely damning" remarks echoed what they had been saying for a long time. Labour has dismissed the challenge and accused Conservatives of electioneering and playing party politics.

Now Conservative group leader Coun Hazel Bruce and all four of her colleagues have tabled a Notice of Motion to this Thursday's council meeting.

They want Labour councillors Wilcox and Thomas to resign for poor leadership in managing the council's budget.

Mrs Bruce, the wife of former South Dorset Tory MP Ian Bruce, said today: "I think the call for them to resign is justified. The District Auditor's report was pretty damning and it basically said that the council was living beyond its means. Labour is the lead party on the council and it is their councillors who have the top posts on the policy committee which controls finances, so they should be the ones to take responsibility. The buck stops with them."

Coun Wilcox said today: "I am, of course, concerned about the state of the council's finances but I am not concerned about electioneering tactics made by the Conservative group. They are just playing party politics rather than looking at the difficulties facing the borough's finances. Making negative carping comments does not help.

"We have taken advice and we will be making recommendations to ensure our financial monitoring is tighter."

Coun Thomas said: "The tiny Tory group's contribution to date has been quite insignificant. It is unfortunate that they don't play a more constructive role in council affairs."

The council's 35 seats comprise 15 Labour with ten Liberal Democrats and five seats each for Tories and the Independents, so the balance of power is likely to lie with the Liberal Democrats. Their leader, Coun Brian Ellis, said: "We will be holding group discussions before the meeting about the Notice of Motion but we haven't been approached by any other political party in connection with this."