Labour Leader Brought Council into Disrepute!

by Brian Bamford

THE leader of Rochdale’s Borough Council, Councillor Allen Brett, has now been found to have ‘brought himself, his office and the Council into disrepute’. This was the finding of an investigation into his conduct earlier this year before the local elections.

The investigation which was conducted by an independent solicitor, was launched in April after the local website Rochdale Online published an audio clip of comments he made at a local Labour Party meeting.

In the audio clip, Councillor Brett is heard explaining at an internal Labour Party meeting how a government grant of £12million is to be spent on the borough’s roads and footpaths.

Ending the two-minute clip, Councillor Brett can be heard saying:

‘

…the budget remains fixed at £12 million [inaudible]. I’ve been given an indicative list of where it’s likely to have [sic], but I’m not releasing it - because I’ll deny I’ve said this, and I’m very reluctant to say it even in this room –  if we don’t do [sic] successful in one ward, I might not spend any money in that ward. You can work that out, but I’ll deny I’ve said it; I will.’

This is followed, says Rochdale Online by ‘murmurs of “Milnrow” (a Rochdale ward) can be heard from others in the room as Councillor Brett says: ‘Because I’m not having, like I was canvassing yesterday, to be told in Milnrow…’

Councillor Brett has long been under criticism from a section of his party because of his long-term support for the notorious former Rochdale MP, Simon Danczuk, and also his loyal backing for his disgraced former predecessor as Rochdale Council Leader, Richard Farnell, who was discredited in a recent inquiry into child sex abuse.