KEIGHLEY town councillors faced an unusual vote for the post of deputy mayor at their annual council meeting.

Councillor Barry Thorne had already been pre-selected for the position at a previous council meeting, when he beat rival Cllr Ian Dermondy.

But at Thursday's (May 26) meeting Cllr Dermondy was again put forward for the same role, triggering another vote to decide the winner.

Cllr Michael Westerman's nomination of Cllr Dermondy sparked an angry response from Cllr Luke Maunsell who described it as "disgraceful".

"I'm very disappointed," he added. "We already decided at the last council meeting that it should be Cllr Barry Thorne.

"We should have respected the position we were in and accepted the vote from the last meeting."

But Cllr Westerman countered that the previous vote was for pre-selection only, adding that he had a democratic right to propose Cllr Dermondy.

Arguing why Cllr Dermondy should be made deputy mayor he said: "He's independent and not tied to a political party, he serves on six council committees and he's missed only five meetings all year. That is commitment."

Cllr Samuel Fletcher seconded the nomination.

Cllr Thorne was put forward by Cllr Anayat Mohammed and seconded by Cllr Maunsell.

Cllr Mohammed said: "In Cllr Thorne we have a very able and capable individual. He is hugely experienced and he's contributed very successfully to the new town council."

Councillors voted in favour of Cllr Thorne, who picked up 17 votes to Cllr Dermondy's six. There was one abstention.

Cllr Thorne, who is married with two sons and lives in Oakworth, was born in Somerset but has lived in Yorkshire since 1970.

He was a member of Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury Parish Council for eight years, a district councillor for Keighley West ward from 1974 to 2004, and served as Bradford Lord Mayor in 1992/93.

He has been a member of the Labour Party for 46 years.