Conservative councillors have criticised an "ill-tempered" and "disingenuous" response from the leader of Warwickshire County Council as they continue to lock horns over a letter sent to the education secretary last year.

Meanwhile Reform's Cllr George Finch hit back at his Tory rivals saying "residents deserve better" than their political games.

The Reform UK group lost a key vote in December on a letter sent from leader Cllr Finch to central government asking for Warwickshire County Council to have the power over the statutory walking limit that determines if a child is eligible for free school transportation.  

Conservative councillors say they have repeatedly requested that Cllr Finch retract the letter sent in October. 

Following last year's vote, Tory members Cllr Adrian Warwick and Cllr Jan Matecki followed up with the council leader saying in a letter: "We strongly object to your proposal to extend the statutory walking distance required for children to qualify for free school transport from three miles to five miles.

"In practice, this would mean some children could face up to ten-mile round trips to school each day on foot."

In this letter, they asked whether he had followed up with the motion.

In a response seen by Nub News, Cllr Finch responded, saying: "Your motion did not mandate me to take any action whatsoever.

"If you wanted to pass a motion that mandated me to withdraw the letter, you should have made sure that the motion did exactly that."

Cllr Finch stated he would not be withdrawing the letter.

He said: "I can confirm to you in writing that I considered the request made to me by full council and determined that it is impossible to withdraw a letter once it has been sent to its recipient." 

Cllr Finch also criticised the meaning behind Cllr Matecki's motion at WCC's December meeting.

He said: "Your motion was not about trying to address the issue of statutory walking distances or home to school transport more broadly, it was simply about putting on a play where you get to play the star role as the man acting like an arsonist returning to the scene of the crime to complain about the clean-up operation.

"Cllr Matecki, your residents deserve better from their local representative, in 2027 they might finally get the representative they deserve."

In a press statement last week, the Conservatives called Cllr Finch's response "ill-tempered and disingenuous". 

Cllr Matecki said: "Such comments fall far below the standards of respect and professionalism expected between elected representatives.

"The motion passed by full council was a legitimate democratic decision. 

"I urge him to act in a democratic way and respect the decisions made by full council, without resorting to language that is both inflammatory and contains personal attacks." 

During the debate last December, Cllr Matecki challenged the Reform councillor to take a ten-mile walk from Coventry Railway Station to Shire Hall.  

He said: "That is what you are asking parents, and possibly older persons such as grandparents, to do."  

Following the motion to withdraw the letter, Cllr Finch was quoted by the local democracy reporting service saying: "In response to the motion, request denied."

Currently, children under eight who live more than two miles away, and children over eight who live more than three miles from school, are eligible for free transportation.  

Cllr Finch proposed extending the distance from three to five miles to reduce the increasing costs of free school transport.  

In this letter, he said, "This would provide local authorities with another vital tool to tackle challenges faced by rising costs."  

The council leader said his actions were necessary to plug a huge spending gap on school transport.

Recent numbers from the local authority showed the costs of this service have risen from £17.9 million in 2018/19 to £50 million this year, with the leader saying "our hands are tied" when trying to reduce the spend.

The letter spat is the latest clash between Cllr Finch and Cllr Matecki with the former

Reform UK has been approached for further comment.