CONSERVATIVE councillors prompted outrage when they called for the scrapping of a statue to honour Barbara Castle - and claimed she didn't deserve it.

Eddie Harrison, a councillor in Meadowhead said Labour-run Blackburn with Darwen Council's plans to honour the former Blackburn MP, pictured above, had prompted anger in the town.

He said the statue should be scrapped and replaced with an inscribed urinal -- fitting after what she did to the cotton industry.

He was backed by Tory leader Coun Colin Rigby -- but the outburst prompted a fierce reaction from Labour politicians.

Blackburn MP Jack Straw, who replaced Baroness Castle in 1979, said: "I think these are almost unbelievably childish and offensive remarks."

Baroness Castle died in 2002 and the statue is likely to stand in the Sudell Cross area of Blackburn.

Coun Harrison, whose family worked in Blackburn's mills, said many people still felt aggrieved that it was while Baroness Castle was the first minister for overseas development that work in East Lancashire's mills began moving abroad.

In 1948, there were 22 mills in Blackburn - now there are none. Coun Harrison said: "There is a lot of anger at this plan for a new statue.

"It is totally inappropriate given that she did nothing to save the mills. In fact, she helped in their demise."

Coun Rigby said: "At the end of the day, she was an MP. Did she live in Blackburn? No.

"She did some good but that is what MPs are supposed to do. Should we also expect some memorial for Jack Straw in the future?

"Barbara Castle has a road named after her already. That's more than enough. An inscribed urinal might be more appropriate, but it isn't going to happen."

To many, Baroness Castle is best remembered as the most powerful woman in British politics before Margaret Thatcher.

In 1944 she married Mirror journalist Ted Castle, later Lord Castle.

A year after being appointed to the overseas development job, she moved to transport, and introduced breathalyser tests, which rapidly reduced the number of road accidents.

Blackburn with Darwen Council leader, Sir Bill Taylor, said: "This sounds like sour grapes to me and I think people will find some of the comment offensive."

Blackburn MP and Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, added: "There are statues to former Conservative MPs in the town, and quite right, too, because of their service to Blackburn.

"Barbara was a major political figure. She fought extremely hard to try to save the cotton industry and I have the papers in my office of Blackburn to prove it."

Rossendale and Darwen MP Janet Anderson, a former personal assistant to Baroness Castle, said: "These comments are risible and puerile. Barbara was a great champion of the town and deserves a proper memorial."