The dispute is over an agreement made last year

Pat Watters, president of the Scottish local authority organisation Cosla, said he should have been involved in the decision about Christina Jebb.

A statement from the English Local Government Association said Ms Jebb had lost the confidence of members.

The split among employers comes as firefighters plan a strike ballot.

Last minute

The row broke out after a peace deal agreed by the Fire Brigades' Union (FBU) and employers was voted down on Monday.

Ms Jebb was chairwoman of the employers' side team which includes local government organisations from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

She had wanted the agreement accepted and branded the move to reject it "totally irresponsible".

Ms Jebb was later said to have "stood down" from her post as chair of UK fire employers.

Mr Watters told BBC Scotland that he had also thought the deal would be agreed by 10 votes to six.

I do not object to them removing one of their delegates, but not when that delegate is the chair of a national organisation when we might be going into a dispute situation Pat Watters Cosla

However the English LGA, which is entitled to more members on the negotiating committee than it actually uses, decided at the last minute to bring in seven extra councillors to vote down the deal.

Mr Watters said the make-up of the English LGA delegation was a matter for that body.

"But what they seem to forget is that when Christina was acting as chair of that council, she was not acting on behalf of English local government, but acting on behalf of local government in the United Kingdom," he said.

"There are another three associations as well as the English association.

"To just mandate the chair to support one organisation's view is entirely wrong.

Mr Watters said that the chair of the council should be "independent and voice the concerns of everyone at that meeting".

Bank holiday

He said: "I do not object to them removing one of their delegates, but not when that delegate is the chair of a national organisation when we might be going into a dispute situation.

"We have got no chair of an organisation that is charged with trying to resolve that situation. It's a bit too much."

The firefighters dispute relates to the implementation of the deal struck in June last year including pay increases backdated to last November.

The employers claimed the sticking point had been the arrangement for bank holiday working.