HYNDBURN MP Greg Pope thought he had a convert to New Labour when he visited the businessman who made his rosettes - till the subject of the minimum wage came up.

David Wallace of Prestfield Rosettes was delighted to see Mr Pope at his firm on his last day as an MP before Parliament dissolved.

He was pleased with an order for 300 rosettes for the local election campaign from Hyndburn - and even more pleased with an order for 60,000 from Labour Party headquarters in London, worth a tidy £30,000 to the company in Malt Street Accrington. He confessed that last time he voted, the candidate wore a blue rosette but said this time he was seriously considering Labour.

But Mr Pope's hopes of just the kind of small business conversion vital to Mr Blair's victory took a knocking when Mr Wallace revealed that the firm had also done rosettes for the Tories and the Monster Raving Loony parties.

And the minimum wage - a central plank of Labour's and Mr Pope's personal policy platform - caused a long pause for thought from Mr Wallace who employs 30 staff at the factory and another dozen or more outworkers in their own homes.

He said:"That causes me a lot of concern. We might have to rethink our operations and our prices if it was introduced.''

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