Radical plans to restructure governance at Stoke City Council are to go ahead in an obvious and blatant attempt by Labour to prevent the BNP from winning the next mayoral election in that city.

The media has already been speculating that Labour was concerned about the BNP scoring a damaging victory in next year’s mayoral election at Stoke. The city was previously a Labour heartland with the party boasting all 60 elected members.

This dropped to just 16 in the May elections, with nine parties represented on the current council, and Labour has been forced into an unprecedented power-sharing coalition with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. The BNP became the third largest party in the city with nine councillors.

Local government minister John Healey, who commissioned the review into Stoke’s political landscape, denies it was an attempt to thwart the BNP despite the fact that it could result in a return to the traditional council leader system. Crucially, a council leader can be voted out of office by fellow councillors whereas an elected mayor can only be removed by the electorate.

Councillors have backed the review recommendation for single-member wards, cutting the number of councillors to 20. This would disproportionately hit the BNP.

Last year, Audit Commission inspectors rated Stoke as a three-star authority and the fastest improving council in the country. But Healey says: “The problems of governance remain. There have long been concerns about civic leadership there. The city has suffered from a collapse of industry and has not pulled itself through the problems of deprivation.”

A referendum to decide whether to retain the mayoral system is expected in the autumn.