The Liberal Democrats found themselves under attack yesterday after the leader of Gateshead Council branded them a "disgrace" after accusing them of not reading authority papers.
But, Lib Dem leader Jonathan Wallace has hit back, and said Labour leader Coun Martin Gannon needs to "calm down" and said that opposition councillors weren't provided with information.
At yesterday's full council meeting, Lib Dem John McClurey proposed a motion asking the authority to consider setting up an energy price comparison service for Gateshead residents.
This caused a political row when Coun Gannon said this was something the council was already doing and accused them of not reading documents.
"When I received this motion I thought 'what the hell is this?' We're doing this " he said.
"Which begs the question, what are 14 Liberal Democrat members doing on the council if they're not reading the papers? It's a disgrace to Gateshead.
"You may be confused with what is going on but there is a whole Labour Council here getting on with improving the lives of people in Gateshead."
Speaking after the meeting Coun Wallace said the councillors in his group had not received the section of the report with the information about the price comparison scheme.
He added: "In my view Coun Gannon needs to stop losing his temper in council meetings.
"He has to understand that the democratic system involves having an opposition and if he doesn't like it he has to lump it.
"It was part of a report that was not part of the report sent to us."
