PARTY group leaders in Burnley will meet again tomorrow in the latest round of talks to find a new council leader and ruling body.

Leaders of all the political groups, minus the British National Party, met yesterday and agreed there would be no nominations for a leader or executive at last night's full council meeting.

The parties have agreed to try and negotiate a cross-party executive to run the council, but one that does not include the BNP.

The far-right party are refusing to take part in negotiations after other parties made it clear there would be no seat on the executive for them.

Group leaders will try and thrash out an agreement with a view to holding a special meeting of the council later this month, probably on September 29, to agree a new administration.

If talks fail there are fears civil servants could be ordered to take control of Burnley Council.

John Prescott's Office of the Deputy Prime Minister could step in to sort out the mess if Burnley continued to drift without leadership.

Councils by law must have a leader and a ruling body such as an executive and the Government would not be prepared to let Burnley continue in limbo for more than a month.

Chief Executive Gillian Taylor and the council's monitoring officer Nick Aves have advised the party group leaders there must be a quick end to the crisis.

Dr Taylor said: "The group leaders are under no illusion about what a serious situation the council is in. They have clearly demonstrated a willingness to resolve the situation by the end of the month."

The crisis follows a night of high drama last Wednesday when the full council supported proposals for a cross-party coalition.

Motions put forward by Liberal Democrat leader Gordon Birtwistle passed included reducing the executive from nine to five, recommending the leader allocate each remaining member a portfolio for strategic objectives, and appointing five non-executive members.

This prompted the resignation of Coun Stuart Caddy and four fellow Labour executive members.

Following June's elections, Labour held power with a minority administration with 21 members compared to the opposition's combined 24.