WITH Labour so shot through with control-freakery at national level, it should come as no surprise that when the fief it dominates in East Lancashire under the name of Burnley Borough Council sets about drawing up a code of conduct for its members, it shrieks a bossy thou-shalt-not-rock-the-boat tone.

Councillors will be wary of the Press, it says; they will not poke their noses into affairs in Burnley that are outside the ward they represent; they will not leak matters to the media; and so forth.

Opposition councillors have told them they will not have it.

Quite right, too.

For though this Kremlinesque code is dressed up as a leaf out of parliament's own sleaze-busting efforts to set high standards for members - and, yet to come, pass them by law on to local government - Burnley's Labourites think this means putting gags and reins on town councillors!

We invite the authors of this dogmatic nonsense to identify themselves and stand up in the council chamber and try to defend its suppression of openness and accountability.

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