Corbyn defends Butler in row over Militant

JEREMY CORBYN said he could “absolutely understand” why councils set illegal budgets in the face of Government funding cuts.

The Labour leader’s comments followed a row over Shadow Minister Dawn Butler’s praise for the Militant-dominated Liverpool council of the 1980s.

Her comments were criticised by senior peers and fellow MPs in a further indication of the divisions within the Parliamentary Labour Party. But Mr Corbyn told BBC1’s

“I think what she was doing was expressing support for the determination of the people of Liverpool.

“The politics and the legalities of the whole thing have moved on and indeed what we need is proper funding of local government.”

As Labour’s conference opened in Liverpool, Mr Corbyn added that he understood why councils set illegal budgets.

“I understand it, absolutely understand it. I represent an inner city area in Islington and we were very angry in the 1980s at the way our council expenditure was cut,” he said.

He added that he was “very angry now when I see local authorities trying their best to deliver good quality services” in the face of reduced funds.

In her speech on Saturday Ms Butler said: “We are in Liverpool where over 30 years ago the council stood up to Thatcher and said, ‘better to break the law than break the poor’.”

Her comments at Labour’s women’s conference revived memories of the party’s battles of the 1980s, when then leader Neil Kinnock denounced “the grotesque chaos of a Labour council – a Labour council – hiring taxis to scuttle round a city handing out redundancy notices to its own workers”.

His intervention was a key moment in the drive to break the far-left Militant group’s hold over parts of the party, which ended with the expulsion of figures including Liverpool council’s deputy leader Derek Hatton.

Ms Butler’s comments were criticised by fellow Labour frontbencher Baroness Thornton.

She said she was “surprised” Ms Butler praised a council that “issued redundancy notices to their own public sector employees, and failed to protect services too”.