The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong made a last minute U-turn when it supported Democrat Fred Li Wah-ming's amendment on the review of municipal councils.
The party decided to overturn its decision last week to reject the amendment.
DAB party core Ip Kwok-him said the decision reflected the view of the party's members in the councils. They favoured merging the two councils and keeping their responsibilities.
But differences had emerged among DAB municipal councillors and the party core on whether controls over food safety should be retained by the merged municipal council and its executive arm.
'Our party core believed food safety controls would be better managed by a government department and Mr Li's amendment tended to support the opposite,' Mr Ip said.
'But after repeated studies, we find the amendment only urges active consideration of keeping the powers.'
