A LEAKED email has revealed that the district council's ruling party fears it will be 'finished' if a decision to close public toilets in Malvern, Upton and Tenbury Wells is reversed.

The Malvern Gazette has obtained a copy of an email sent to Liberal Democrat members by Coun Clive Smith urging them to attend a meeting where the decision to close the loos will again be debated.

In it, Coun Smith says he is passing on a message from council leader Diane Rayner.

"It is absolutely VITAL that we are at maximum strength in order to bury this once and for all and maintain the confidence of everyone at MHDC that we can deliver, or we will be finished as an administration," it says.

"Therefore, please ensure you are there on the night. I don't want to have to go around confiscating passports etc."

The revelation comes after Coun Mary Wilkinson gained enough support to force a review of the decision to shut the toilets at a special council meeting on April 3.

Coun Smith said Lib Dem party members were not forced, or 'whipped', into voting with the party when the council decided to close the toilets earlier this month, as two Lib Dem councillors voted against the plans.

"The only block vote for the closure was the Conservatives," he said. "Our vote is never whipped. We vote with our conscience."

Asked whether the e-mail's strong language could be seen as forcing members to tow the party line, Coun Smith said: "I was merely pointing out that our administration would be in severe difficulties if we lost that vote. The administration relies on having the confidence of officers and the people that elected them to deliver what we deliver."

Coun Paul Cumming, who leads the council's Conservative members, said he could not understand why Lib Dems were so determined to close the toilets in the face of public opinion to save annual running costs of £4,000, when they were prepared to spend £8 million on new council offices.

The toilets that the council voted to close - Edith Walk and Victoria Road in Malvern, Lower High Street in Upton and Market Street in Tenbury Wells - are currently boarded up.