THE Governments has denied a local MP's suggestion that a former minister backed Lancaster's Western Bypass bid partly because it affected two threatened parliamentary seats.

In a letter to other Lancashire Labour MPs Hilton Dawson claims that the then Transport Minister, Keith Hill, 'did everything he could' to win funding 'not least because of the impending General Election and the possible impact on two marginal seats.'

In the letter, which the Citizen has a copy of, Mr Dawson added: "In the end I believe that the funding bid was turned down because the Western Bypass grossly contravened key environmental and sustainable transport policies. Crucially, it had not been approved by the inspector at the Lancaster local plan public inquiry."

Millbank emphatically denied any suggestion of partisanship over consideration of road schemes.

Asked if he stood by his words now that the remarks had become public, Mr Dawson said: "I really don't want to comment on that. That was a private letter and you can draw your own conclusions. You can also draw your own conclusions from the fact that the Western bypass has not been approved."

Conservative county councillor David Wood, said it was alarming to think that political reasons may have been behind Labour's support for the bypass when it is such an important issue.

In the letter Mr Dawson adds: "I do not write to you to seek your support in a dispute between colleagues but to point out that Lancashire County Council are in acute danger of committing themselves to a bid for a road which our Government will not and cannot support."

He adds, in bold print: "It could result in delay to important schemes in other constituencies."

Mr Dawson denied he was asking parliamentary colleagues to 'lean on' county councillors to support himself, and Cllr Ruth Henig, who, he says, is also convinced that the Western Bypass will never happen, in encouraging the county to bid for sustainable transport policies.

A Labour Party spokesman would not comment on the implication in Dawson's letter but stressed: "It is impossible to make partisan decisions on road building projects. Any objective analysis of the road building projects approved by this Government would show that they have been fairly distributed across the country and across areas represented by different political parties."

Morecambe and Lunesdale MP Geraldine Smith considered it "totally inappropriate" for Mr Dawson to be seen to be attempting to get county MPs to influence the views of Labour county councillors on the matter.

The DeTR was also unwilling to comment on Mr Dawson's personal correspondence. A spokesman insisted that all major road schemes are thoroughly appraised.

Mr Hill, now deputy chief whip, was unavailable for comment.