Burnley RSS Feed Send your news, pictures & videos


LT block logo JOIN THE DEBATE BY ADDING YOUR COMMENTS ON THESE STORIES

Registering to post comments on the Lancashire Telegraph website only takes a few seconds. Click here to go to the registration page.

Row over Burnley Labour Party's web claim

11:50am Saturday 13th March 2010 in


A BITTER row has erupted between rival parties in the battle to become Burnley’s next MP.

Labour Party activists have been accused of “descending into the gutter” after publicising details of the business history of the Lib Dem candidate Gordon Birtwistle.

The Labour Party created a website giving detailed information on a company he ran which went into administration eight years ago.

Details of the password-protected site were then passed to the press.

The party said that the elaborate tactic was justified because the company, Oswaldtwistle-based Stuart Engineering, left a tax bill of more than £171,000, and made a number of people redundant, claiming this raised important questions about the would-be MP.

But Coun Birtwistle, the leader of Burnley Council, asked why it had not been mentioned when he stood in 2005, claiming Labour was “desperate” to hang on to power.

Current MP Kitty Ussher is standing down at the general election, with Labour councillor Julie Cooper chosen to fight for the seat instead. Coun Birtwistle said: “This was eight years ago and it was all reported at the time – what makes it such a big public interest now?”

Coun Birtwistle confirmed the company had been placed into administration after a supplier chose to switch a major contract to Hungary.

He said that he had not been aware of the tax bill as this had been handled by the administrators.

The former Burnley councillor Peter Kenyon, the secretary of Burnley Labour Party, said that the research had been done by a temporary employee in the local office during last year’s county council election campaign.

He said: “We believe this is a story that public ought to know about.”

Comments(16)

Markr says...
12:08pm Sat 13 Mar 10

Who in their right mind would vote for either of these parties, all they want is power at any costs and neither have any concerns at all about the people of Burnley, just want to look good.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

ABBEY ROAD says...
2:15pm Sat 13 Mar 10

If this is a 'password-protected site' then it's not available to the general public so how can it be a Labour campaign?

I'm more interested in the fact that the Liberal candidate for Burnley MP has no interest in his own debt of £171,000 to us tax payers that he thinks we the voters should not know about it.

I can't understand Gordon's attitude and statement that 'he had not been aware of the tax bill as this had been handled by the administrators'. Does this mean he just has a flippant attitude and just walked away with a could not care less approach?

Sorry I would be on the verge of a breakdown if I had been in his position.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Burnley Lad says...
2:48pm Sat 13 Mar 10

Labour Party activists have been accused of “descending into the gutter” after publicising details of the business history of the Lib Dem candidate Gordon Birtwistle.

Well said Abbey Road - where exactly is this suppose to have been publicised if it is password protected and not available to the voting public?

My thoughts are more that this information SHOULD be available BEFORE you decide to vote and not after in some big scandal.

Sorry Liberals > Gordon Birtwistle is the wrong man to front up the party as he's carrying too much dead wood.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

ganja man says...
5:01pm Sat 13 Mar 10

Predicted 4 monts ago on this site that Gordon Birtwistle will make history and BECOME Burnley's next MP. He is a honourable man and a worthy candidate who has proven he can get things done in Burnley over a number of years.
This man has shown he can rise above the negativity generated by the "OLD dinosaurs" in the Burnley Labour Party.
Rise above this people and vote for Gordon LIB DEM to finally bring about change that is long overdue in Burnley.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

MerlinTheVoiceofReason says...
5:15pm Sat 13 Mar 10

This just shows how desperate and despicable Labour have become.
This is the lowest of the low!

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

ganja man says...
5:44pm Sat 13 Mar 10

" A con" true to form coming out with false information and lies as usual. Somethings never change!!
As for principles it is a case of voting for the BEST person for the job in hand. That on merit is Gordon Birtwistle.
Vote the man in and give him a chance. 80+ years of Labour rule in the town and what is there to show for the lack of direction and strategic decision making.
I am sure Gordon too would support the fight against fascism and racism carried on by the UAF (Unite Against Fascism) and SEARCHLIGHT magazine. www.searchlightmagaz
ine.com
Go on "a con" stand as the BNP candidate and lets see how many people vote for you.
That is assuming you can have "a borrow" and raise the deposit.
BNP is the party locally that will see the greatest DECREASE in its share of the TOTAL votes cast. BOTH PREDICTIONS WILL STAND BY AFTER MAY 6TH.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Burnley Lad says...
6:20pm Sat 13 Mar 10

Ganja Man get back to Nelson and fight your own political battles elsewhere. You have no idea what you are talking about.

Birtwistle has already shown he is a hopeless case. The Liberals sadly have weakend their chances by putting Gordon up for MP.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

DaveBurnley says...
6:47pm Sat 13 Mar 10

So what if Birtwistle was involved with a company which went to the wall? It could be argued that this was partly as a result of NuLab policies.
This just shows that NuLab are running scared. They are prepared to try any dirty trick to keep their sleaze encrusted fingers on Burnley.
Ganja man is quite right to urge support for Gordon, he should be judged on his policies, so far he's the only one who is prepared to fight for the return of our A&E.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

donkeybrain says...
6:56pm Sat 13 Mar 10

Gordon Birtwistle will have stand on his own reputation.To me he does not deserve to be Burnleys next mp.
All the noise he has made about the closure of the A&E IN Burnley then it turns out he has only written two letters in 18 months. The grants to loans fiasco for the Elevate scheme,when he managed to turn an£30 000 grant into a £30 000 loan, then tell the effected people what a good deal he had got.No way do i want this man representing me.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Old Timer says...
7:01pm Sat 13 Mar 10

The tax bill is of interest but not as damaging has what Gordon (Birtwistle not Brown) has done to his election chances by using his influence to demolish the Derby pub. His excuse was the main funding came by Elevate, of which there is a disputed border line, this does not alter the fact he spent a fortune on destroyed a fine building yet he talks about developing the dreaded Weaver's Triangle, another project in which to waste money.... We won't bring up in detail how he thought that LCC were going to buy those council houses and left Burnley to pick up the tab when the County Council decided they didn't want a school where Gordon (Birtwistle not Brown) was digging his political grave.
I think I will vote for Brown (Andrew not Gordon) to be Burnley's MP but I reckon once again Cooper (Julie not Henry or Tommy) will get in.... What a joke this political game is.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

DaveBurnley says...
7:37am Sun 14 Mar 10

And that Old Timer is the problem. The independent will split the opposition vote, and there is a real danger that the NuLab candidate will slither in and start guzzling in the trough immediately.
I don't think much of LibDems at a national level but one of my reasons for supporting Birtwistle would be to give Labour a bloody nose as a thank you to Kitty for her efforts to lower Burnley's amenities .
Whether it comes to pass remains to be seen.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Tommy35 says...
3:04pm Sun 14 Mar 10

DaveBurnley wrote:
So what if Birtwistle was involved with a company which went to the wall? It could be argued that this was partly as a result of NuLab policies. This just shows that NuLab are running scared. They are prepared to try any dirty trick to keep their sleaze encrusted fingers on Burnley. Ganja man is quite right to urge support for Gordon, he should be judged on his policies, so far he's the only one who is prepared to fight for the return of our A&E.
Dave, That's not quite right is it. The shadow Tory health minister, Andrew Lansley came up last year and said Burnley should have an A&E. He then wrote to the review which is just taking place and said the very same thing in writing. If the Tories win he will be the new Health Secretary....and just who is the LibDem health spokesman?

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

DaveBurnley says...
4:00pm Sun 14 Mar 10

Tommy, if the Tories get in at the next election and they restore Burnley's A&E then I will gladly stand in the market square and plait sawdust.
I have no faith in any vague promises that one of them might insinuate. We've seen this over and over in the past. Opposition parties are brilliant at promising the moon, until they become the Government....

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Tommy35 says...
6:36pm Mon 15 Mar 10

DaveBurnley wrote:
Tommy, if the Tories get in at the next election and they restore Burnley's A&E then I will gladly stand in the market square and plait sawdust. I have no faith in any vague promises that one of them might insinuate. We've seen this over and over in the past. Opposition parties are brilliant at promising the moon, until they become the Government....
Dave, That is something I will love to see. Coming from Lansley I think he will honour his words and make sure Burnley has an A&E department. Put it another way, dear old bumbling Birtwistle will have as much chance of making a difference as Andrew Brown (who actually said back in September that he thought the battle was lost and we should move on).

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

birdkeith says...
6:37pm Mon 15 Mar 10

i have read all the above with interest,but having reguard to birtwhistles propensity to lose money that this town can ill afford,and im talking here of £300.+thousand for the derby pub,a brilliant building that could have been put to useful; and no doubt profitable use,the £600 thousand on houses on melrose ave,thousands wasted on failed and useless protest about the new schools ;mainly townely,over my dead body he used to say,well he must be well and truely burried by now,cos he hasnt won one argument;not even his much vaunted a and e negative campaign,honestly i could go on,and on but id be here all night,so the news of his business debts needs shouting from the rooftops;cos it shows the acumen of the man,he is not fit to be burnleys MP,i think julie cooper will do a much better job so im going to vote for her,oh and by the way, has anyone seen any form of election profile from birtwhistle?thought not,for instance he doesnt tell us which football team he supports,come on gordon,lets hear it, birdkeith

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

delooze says...
8:20pm Thu 18 Mar 10

I remember mr birtwistle, along with his wife, straight in to the perky jobs of being the worshipful mayor and mayoress in 2002. he did this as he handed out p45's to his employees.

Obviously the mishandling of his company couldn't have come at a better time if they were going to play mayor and mayoress games for 12 months. Well could it?

Mr birtwistle never declared his 'business being in administration' to the council at the time either. (declaration of interests)

i reported the fact to the monitoring officer in 2002. I was later informed by the monitoring officer, Tom Forshaw, that the details had been modified.

mind you its not illegal for a man in administration with tax debts of £170,000, and the livlihoods of fathers and mothers on his hands, to be made the worshipful mayor is it?

just not very apt. its a joke really.

and again how would he found the time to play at being mayor if he was still running a company?

In my opinion the whole town of burnley is corrupt from the MP to the hoards of corrupt directors running the pathetic nhs trusts. The local press does nothing but play lap dogs to civic leaders and high rankers on the council.

mind you this has been going on for decades

the whole situation is farcical as people like Birtwistle play acting roles and pretend to have power in the town. they don't have power they only have strings.

mind you gordon birtwistle is small fry compared to other corrupt faces in authority in this town.

indeed how does a man responsible for tax debts of £170.000 become mayor and then leader anyway?

mind you how does our mp fiddle a kitchen and £17,000 and still get to stay our mp to pick up bonus' and a handshake?

these people in authority, mr birtwistle and mrs ussher included, do not run the town they are simply puppets for even bigger corrupt faces that are hiding in the background.

thats why we have no a&e anymore.

mr birtwistle and mrs ussher are simply in it for perks and favours and so will those that replace them.

it does not matter who you vote for.

and as far as the derby pub is concerned who owned it? who actually got 300 grand for it?

who got the demolision contract as well?

this town is a hell hole and it can only get worse.

no?

please tell me who can change it then?

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

More Burnley stories


ACCESS: The ‘Bertie’s Business Blunder’ website access was passed to the press ACCESS: The ‘Bertie’s Business Blunder’ website access was passed to the press

Most popular



Local Information

Enter your postcode, town or place name

House prices »   Schools »   Crime »   Hospitals »

Local Businesses