EAST Lancashire MPs Janet Anderson and Greg Pope have told a fellow-Labour MP to keep his hands off the borough of Rossendale.

They spoke out saying David Chaytor's proposal to merge Bury and their borough was a "madcap" idea.

Mr Chaytor staged a special Commons debate to discuss the possibility of amalgamating the two local authorities if people vote to set up an elected North West regional assembly. That will require a shake-up of local government likely to see the abolition of Lancashire County Council. Options canvassed for the new council map include a large unitary authority including Blackburn, Burnley and Rossendale or a smaller one including Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale.

But Bury North MP Mr Chaytor said that Bury and Rossendale should be merged.

He said this would bring back Ramsbottom - an "important, beautiful and historic town" - back into the Rossendale Valley in local government terms.

He said: "The links between Ramsbottom at the northern end of Bury and the rest of Rossendale are good. It is quicker to drive from the centre of Rossendale to Ramsbottom than it is to Burnley or Blackburn."

But Rossendale and Darwen MP Mrs Anderson is furious. She said she was "astonished" at the proposal, saying: "Rural Rossendale and urban Bury have very little in common."

She said she favoured the Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale authority as did the Labour group on her local council. She said only three Tories backed the Bury option, adding: "I urge the minister to listen to the people of Rossendale and confine this madcap fantasy to the dustbin where it rightly belongs."

Hyndburn MP Greg Pope, who has two wards in Haslingden in Rossendale in his constituency, said there was "a compelling case for a unitary authority in Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale.

"The people I represent in Haslingden do not want to be run from Bury. The only people who support this absurd idea are David Chaytor and three Tory councillors in Rossendale."

Local Government Minister Phil Hope said he had listened carefully to the MPs and promised that the Boundary Commission would carefully consider all the arguments before making a recommendation to Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

He said he would make sure that the MPs views were made known to Mr Prescott.