A Sorry Standard to Set!

1.40.54pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 28th Oct 2004

Council Leader Richard Leese and his deputy Jim Battle have been referred to the Standards Board by Lib Dem Group Leader Simon Ashley.

The referral follows the donation of £5000 to the Labour Party by ASK Property Developers in June 2004, and the awarding of preferred bidder status to a consortium including ASK to build a Casino in East Manchester in July 2004.

When the matter was debated by the Labour run Executive, despite the donation to the Labour party, no Labour Councillor declared a prejudicial interest. When contacted by a reporter Leese said he "did not know when he knew" of the donation, and Cllr Battle was unavailable for comment.

Cllr Ashley then wrote to all Labour members of the Executive asking them if they were aware of the donation. They were instructed not to reply by Leese and Battle.

Cllr Ashley said today,

"Cllrs Leese and Battle have chosen not to answer questions from journalists or myself rather than be open, accountable and allow reasonable scrutiny. They have told other Labour councillors to keep their mouths shut. I think if they are aware of the donation then they should have declared a prejudicial interest and not taken part in the debate on the Casino. However, they will not say whether they knew or not. They may have breached the Code of Conduct, so I am obliged to report them to the Standards Board for England."

End.......

For more contact Cllr Simon Ashley on 07879 891 150, 0161 234 3354 or 0161 336 0421.

Email : simon@gorton.org