Wrangling over the control of Cornwall Council have broken down after the Conservatives and the council's independent faction failed to reach an agreement.

Although the Conservative party secured the most council seats in local elections on May 4, with 46, the group did not claim enough electoral divisions to form a working majority on the council, meaning it will have to share power with one of the other smaller groups.

The two next largest groups are the Liberal Democrats, with 37 seats, and the independents with 30, and a working coalition between the Liberal Democrats and the Tories has already been ruled out.

The Tory's have subsequently been attempting to strike a deal with the independents, but negotiations broke down this week with the Tories claiming the independents wanted a disproportionate amount of power and influence while the independents claiming they had been asked to sign up to the Conservative manifesto - thereby compromising their independence and falling in step with the party.

Andrew Wallis, the independent councillor for Porthleven and Helston West, wrote about problems with the "horse trading" which was currently taking place at County Hall.

He said the deal laid out by the Conservatives was "not a joint-administration offer, because the deal was not an equal partnership and therefore was prone to failure."

He said the independents had only been offered four out of the ten cabinet seats available, and the Conservatives would only "consider" an independent chairman of the council and deputy.

He added: "And finally, the Tories ‘will require any independents who work with us to agree in principle to the Conservative group’s manifesto commitments for the 2017 local elections.’

It does not take a lot to work out the answer to the deal, but for those who cannot guess, it was a resounding no to this offer. You almost get the impression they wanted the deal to be rejected with the inclusion of signing up to the Tory manifesto. Or worse, they were delusional in thinking a group of people elected as independents, would suddenly sign-up to a political party’s manifesto."

As the Packet went to press on Tuesday evening, the Liberal Democrat group was expected to be holding its own meeting at County Hall.

Meanwhile, the independent group plans to put forward its own candidate for council leader, for which it would require the support of the Liberal Democrats or the Conservatives to form a majority, while the Conservatives may put forward a candidate with the aims of governing with a minority.