EAST Lancashire is ‘90 per cent certain’ to get its own local enterprise partnership, an MP has said.

Hyndburn member Graham Jones said he believed ministers would rubber-stamp the Pennine Lancashire LEP bid, despite weeks of rows between political leaders over what approach to take.

Bosses in Blackburn with Darwen and Burnley favour a LEP covering East Lancashire, but some other councils in the region are believed to want a Lancashire-wide organisation backed by Lancashire County Council.

Business Minister Mark Prisk is now looking over both the Lancashire-wide and Pennine Lancashire proposals and is likely to make a decision after Christmas.

Labour MP Mr Jones said: “I am 90 per cent certain we will get a Pennine Lancashire LEP.

“I spoke to Mark Prisk last week and if he has got any sense, he will approve our bid.

“I think he will go for a two-way approach, with the Pennine one covering the east and the Lancashire one covering the rest of the county.”

Mr Prisk and Business Secretary Vince Cable are understood to be unimpressed with the in-fighting as Lancashire attempts to come to agreement.

LEPs covering neighbouring Greater Manchester, Cumbria and Merseyside were approved by ministers back in October.

In a bid to sway Whitehall, Lancashire County Council leader Geoff Driver and Kate Hollern and Charlie Briggs, the council leaders in Blackburn with Darwen and Burnley respectively, have written to Mr Prisk in letters seen by the Lancashire Telegraph.

In his letter, Coun Driver said: “Key stakeholders in Lancashire now agree there is an urgent need to establish a single LEP for the whole of the sub-region.”

However, Couns Hollern and Briggs said: “It (the Lancashire County Council-led bid) misrepresents businesses.”

LEPs have been launched by the coalition government to help bring investment to areas, replacing development agencies.