An ex-Labour councillor says he has been 'silenced' after being kicked off two scrutiny committees.

Cllr David Mountford left the Labour group on Stoke-on-Trent City Council in September and joined the new Potteries Party.

The Great Chell and Packmoor councillor has now been removed from two overview and scrutiny committees due to a re-allocation of seats.

Under the law, council committees have to be politically balanced, meaning political groups are allocated committee seats according to their total number of councillors.

But Cllr Mountford believes the city council's interpretation of these rules has been too 'rigid', and has resulted in non-aligned councillors being 'locked out' of the scrutiny system.

He spoke out against the council's approach as elected members were asked to approve the changes during Thursday's full council meeting.

Cllr David Mountford said: "Under the rigid way political balance is being applied today, non-aligned councillors like myself have been removed from overview and scrutiny committees entirely, not because we lack experience, commitment or public mandate, but because the constitution simply doesn't recognise independents as worthy of a seat at the scrutiny table.

"Residents did not vote for us to be silenced. Scrutiny is supposed to be the democratic safeguard of this chamber, and not the exclusive reserve of political groups.

"When five members of this council sit outside the whip system, representing thousands of residents, yet can be locked out of scrutiny due to a technical reading of the constitution, something is fundamentally wrong."

The city council has four overview and scrutiny committees, each covering a different council directorate.

While they have no decision-making powers, the committees play an important role in scrutinising council decisions and performance, and examining other issues of public interest.

Cllr Mountford was previously a member of the adult social care, health integration and wellbeing committee, and the children and family services committee.

The latest changes to the committees was triggered by the departure of three councillors from the Conservative group.

Former Tory group leader Dan Jellyman defected to Reform UK, which now has two members and qualifies as a political group, while Heather Blurton and Maxine Clark are now sitting as independents.

Political balance calculations give Labour four seats on each committee and the Tories two, with Reform UK being allocated a single seat on three of the committees.

Councillors voted to approve the recommended changes to the committees.