THE Liberal Democrat group on Swindon Council has withdrawn its support for the town's bid for city status, in a move that has been condemned by council leader Sue Bates as a publicity stunt.

The bid has already been submitted to the Home Office and has been supported by the Spirit of Swindon campaign in the Evening Advertiser.

But Liberal Democrat leader Mike Evemy (Eastcott) believes the council should be concentrating on improving its education service instead.

He claims there are no obvious advantages to city status and that senior council officers' time could be better spent putting right the failures of the local education authority that were highlighted by the recent Ofsted report.

The LEA was found to be guilty of impeding rather than helping schools and was criticised for creating a climate of confusion, suspicion and mistrust by its poor decision making.

He said: "The council's senior officers should be committing their energies towards turning around the town's education service.

"There is no evidence that city status improves the lives of those people who live in towns that have received the award. "The spirit and heart of Swindon lives within the community, not on road signs welcoming you to the town. You have to ask whether this is really what the people of Swindon want.

"We've had reservations for some time because we feel officers, including the chief executive, are spending far too much time on something which is speculative."

Coun Bates (Lab, Gorse Hill and Pinehurst) said it was too late to withdraw the bid, but admitted the Liberal Democrat decision could damage its chances of success.

She said: "They've left it a bit late to change their minds. They've been supportive all along and if they had reservations they should have mentioned it earlier.

"It may damage the bid but we are where we are and we can't change that.

"This is futile and they know it is and they've just done it to try to gain a bit more publicity for themselves.

"The Liberal Democrats are rather like an infection they see a small cut and they're in there trying to poison the wound."

Meanwhile, the Conservative group will decide on Thursday before the full council meeting whether or not to withdraw its support as well.

Group leader, Mike Bawden (Old Town and Lawn) stressed they were only considering it because of the Liberal Democrat decision.

He said: "I know some of my members have voiced concern, but we are 90 per cent down the road now and I believe that money has been offered to us by a private company to pay for most of the bid.

"Up until last week, there was a consensus of support, but things have obviously happened recently that won't do our bid any good."

Last year the Government rejected Swindon's bid for city status in favour of bids from Brighton and Hove, Wolverhampton and Inverness.

The Queen will announce next year the recipient of the latest award to coincide with her Golden Jubilee festivities.