Peers have backed the right of councils to use committee systems, including by unitaries created following local government reorganisation.
Yesterday, as part of the devolution Bill's report stage in the House of Lords, peers voted to remove a clause covering models of governance.
Last year, ministers backtracked slightly by agreeing councils such as Bristol and Sheffield, which reverted to committees after referendums, would not be forced to switch to a cabinet system, providing they showed they were better off.
During this week's debate, Lib Dem peer Lord Shipley, a former leader of Newcastle City Council, said: ‘It is surely for the people who pay taxes to that authority to make a decision about the governance structure that runs their local area.'
Local government minister Baroness Taylor insisted requiring newly created councils to use a leader and cabinet model would lead to greater ‘clarity and consistency'.
Ministers must now decide whether to reinsert the original clause when the Bill returns to the House of Commons.
