READERS may wish to know some background to your report (LET, March 7) about my condemnation of Conservative leader Coun Peter Britcliffe's attack on Hyndburn Council's press officer.

When Hyndburn Council met to set the Council Tax for the forthcoming year, for the seventh year running the Conservatives abused local democracy by failing to come up with an alternative budget to show how we were supposed to make £800,000-worth of cuts in services, as dictated to by the Tory Government. With no balanced proposals of his own, Coun Britcliffe decided to attack our recently-appointed press officer Megan Nurse, who was present in the council chamber covering the proceedings.

He called her politically biased, knowing full well that as a council officer she could not defend herself by responding to unfounded allegations. Usually when someone has serious allegations to make they give examples. Coun Britcliffe gave none. What infuriates him is local headlines such as 'Council wins prestigious Investors in People award' or 'Major employer moves to Hyndburn due to Council diligence,' because he knows that anything showing the council in a good light is bad news for him, as it is a Labour-run authority.

The headlines quoted are not political bias. They are straightforward reporting of 'good news' stories.

COUN TIM O'KANE, Charles Street, Clayton-le-Moors.

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