A LIBERAL Democrat councillor branded a "Trotskyite" by a Labour counterpart in a row over the closure of homes for the elderly is demanding an apology.

Coun Karimeh Foster and the three other Liberal Democrat councillors in Blackburn and Darwen have hit out at Coun Mike Madigan, who represents the Shadsworth ward, where a threatened home is located.

But in a letter to members of the Shadsworth Estate Management Board, Coun Madigan said his comments had been misinterpreted.

He wrote: "This reference was directed to Coun Foster when I suggested that she was interfering all over the town and in Shadsworth she had aligned herself with some strange bedfellows. "I was referring to the Socialist Workers' Party who also try to exploit any situation and take any opportunity to sell their newspapers."

Coun Foster claimed: "We are approached by many people and we do not turn them down just because they live in a different area to us, or because they have a different political allegiance.

"In Shadsworth I was approached by local people who said their councillors were a waste of time."

Liberal Democrat group leader Coun Paul Browne added: "We asked Councillor Madigan to apologise, but he has refused.

"How he can accuse a Liberal Democrat of being a Trotskyite baffles me. Perhaps be doesn't understand the meaning of the word."

Coun Madigan said: "The Liberals are trying to gain the moral high ground but the kind of politics they have been engaged in, particularly with the homes for the elderly, has been appalling.

"When I accused Coun Karimeh Foster of having strange bedfellows I was referring to how the Liberals and the Socialist Workers' Party were trying to exploit the situation with Shadsworth House." That is cheap politics."

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