TORY councillors in Moray have been urged to get their act together “or step aside” after eight of them walked out of the coalition administration, leaving it with no-one in overall charge.

Matters came to a head yesterday when the Tory group expressed disquiet at advertisements for two director-level posts at salaries of £90,000 each as part of a restructuring of the authority’s senior management.

The Conservatives formed an administration with four independent councillors after last year’s elections. However, SNP group co-leader Graham Leadbitter said senior staff had been growing increasingly concerned about the ruling group’s “lack of direction”.

“There is massive concern in the council’s senior management about the lack of strategy and direction from the administration,” he said.

“This is an incredibly serious situation, at a time when decisions need to be taken. Council officers are being left firefighting on multiple fronts as different administration councillors pull in entirely different directions.”

A spokesman for the Tories said the decision to walk out had followed years of Scottish Government cuts to the council’s budget, which had left it on the brink of bankruptcy.

“It was clear that opinions were divided on the advertisement of two £90,000 management posts,” he said.

“Recognising the differences of opinion, the Conservative group asked if thought would be given to a co-leadership position where one councillor could continue with the day-to-day political management and the other focus on change and transformation including looking at shared services. This was refused.”

Councillor Tim Eagle, leader of the Tory group, said they had walked out with “great regret”.

He added: “Moray Council faces enormous financial challenges and, in our opinion, there needed to be a much more developed programme of change and transformation, along with a review of senior management and how the council is structured. We cannot continue in the same old way. There is clearly no appetite for the changes we feel are essential and the result is deadlock.”

A council spokesman said council leader George Alexander – an independent – was in talks with opposition parties to try to solve the crisis.

The council outlined that had happened in a series of tweets: “This morning Conservative councillors that formed part of the coalition administration of Moray Council with independent members announced that they have left the group.

“The move leaves five independent councillors and one non-aligned Conservative as a minority-ruling administration.

“Senior management are meantime working with elected members to assist the way forward, and a further update will be issued as the situation progresses.”

Shona Morrison, the SNP’s other co-leader, said: “The most immed- iate problem at Moray Council is the abject failure of the Tories to play a constructive part in administration.

“It looks like they are throwing their independent colleagues under the bus for their own political ends rather than delivering for Moray.”