SHOCK figures which listed Lancashire's beaches among the dirtiest in Europe have been labelled 'lies' by a Tory minister.

Conservatives have been hitting back at opposition claims that beaches in the region are badly polluted and fail to meet European health standards.

Robert Jones, the minister for planning, said: "Labour is engaging in lies and smears in their increasingly desperate and disreputable attacks upon the British water industry.

"Labour has deliberately used old figures from as far back as 1993 and collected by Government agencies, such as the National Rivers Authority, in order to attack beaches in the North West. "The true facts are different. Some £2 billion of investment and more than 100 clean-up operations have ensured that 89 per cent of our beaches now comply with European standards compared with only 66 per cent in 1989."

Mr Jones added: "What makes these lies particularly sad is that Labour is not just talking down the water industry, but knowingly undermining the British tourist trade.

"The Labour leadership may be happy to jet off to Tuscany or Spain but don't seem to mind harming British tourism and a whole region of Great Britain.

"I only hope they don't do too much damage."

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