It's all falling apart for Selby's MP John Grogan. After his whingeing over Labour's embarrassing defeat at the Hambleton by-election he now has the gall to call for a code of practice for district councillors and a standards committee to be set up (January 13).

Presumably, he hopes, it would be dominated by the Labour group and controlled by the very councillors who are under scrutiny. He implies that a standards committee and the implementation of a code of conduct for district councillors is a new Labour Party initiative. But in July 1997 Lord Nolan recommended:

A clear code of conduct for councillors developed by each individual council within a framework approved by parliament.

That each council should have a standards committee to deal with matters of propriety and to have the powers to recommend to the full council that errant members should be disciplined.

As a direct result, the Labour party instigated project 99 to improve the standard of councillors and ensure all duties are performed in compliance with the highest standards of probity and integrity. You, Mr Grogan, and your cohorts saw fit not to implement project 99.

Now that the Labour group is falling apart our MP comes up with what he hopes is a damage-limitation statement requesting what should have been in fact set up in July 1997 as per Lord Nolan's recommendations.

Until the Selby Labour Party address this situation I fear you will have a lot more bad publicity, further revelations and election defeats.

Kevin Aston,

Coney Hill,

Kelfield.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.