A DEBATE over the erection of a statue to honour former Blackburn MP Barbara Castle has been aired on national radio.

The Lancashire Evening Telegraph previously revealed that Blackburn with Darwen Council planned to create a memorial to Baroness Castle, who died in 2002, possibly in the Sudell Cross area of the town.

The announcement prompted outrage from the town's Conservative councillors who claimed Baroness Castle -- who also has a road named after her -- didn't deserve the accolade.

In a debate on Radio 2, yesterday, Anne Perkins, author of Red Queen, a book about Barbara Castle, said: "I think we need statues to remember people.

"There are two categories of statue, you have your Nelsons and your Churchills, and then there are people who are not so big but still people who have shaped our lives and I would certainly put Barbara Castle in that category.

"The fact that statues like this provoke debates has to be a good thing, surely."

Quentin Letts, Parliamentary sketch writer of the Daily Mail, said: "Barbara Castle may well have been great and Blackburn is not greatly overburdened with great men and women but I would caution the council to wait for 50 years .

"Barbara Castle was a fantastic orator and really bit people's ankles and there is little doubt that Blackburn may have a little statue, but I would just suggest they leave it a few years."