A huge election row has broken out after a Liverpool independent group vowed to go to the police over what they described as a 'toxic, phony and scurrilous' Labour election leaflet.
The row concerns the battle for two seats in the Garston ward of south Liverpool at next month's local elections. One of the candidates standing is current Cressington councillor Sam Gorst who last year quit Labour to join the Liverpool Community Independents group.
Cllr Gorst, who is running alongside fellow Community Independents candidate Lucy Williams for the two available seats in Garston, is the clear target for an election leaflet being posted through Garston doors currently, which has led his group to accuse Labour of 'sinking into the gutter.'
Labour have stood by the words on their leaflet and said 'the truth hurts', accusing the Community Independents group of being a 'novelty act with no workable policies'.
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With a headline of 'sickening', the leaflet - branded as the Garston Residents News - refers to a social media post from Cllr Gorst in which he reportedly referred to Queen Elizabeth II a 'useless b****' and another in which he reportedly described former Liverpool Wavertree MP Luciana Berger as a 'hideous traitor.'
The leaflet includes quotes from an unnamed 'prominent community leader', who describes the remarks as 'stomach-churning.'
The election leaflet also includes accusations about Cllr Gorst's housing situation, claiming that he was given a new home in Garston after just eight months on the South Liverpool Homes waiting list, when the average wait is four years.
This is an allegation the Liverpool Community Independents have described as 'false' and 'scurrilous'.
The same leaflet describes the wider community independents group as 'hard left sympathisers' and says their refusal to back Labour's budget plans last year risked a 'return to the dark days of militant' - with an image of former council firebrand Derek Hatton attached.
The election leaflet does not make it visibly clear that it is from the Labour Party, instead being printed under the banner of Garston Residents News. In small print on one side it says the letter is promoted by current Lynnie Hinnigan, who is currently a Labour councillor and ward colleague of Cllr Gorst on behalf of the party's Garston candidates Sharon Connor and Richard McLean.
In a statement regarding the election letter, the Liverpool Community Independents group said: "The Liverpool Labour Party has sunk into the gutter with the production of a phony newsletter making scurrilous accusations against Liverpool Community Independent candidate Sam Gorst, running alongside Lucy Williams for Garston ward.
"Rattled by Sam’s record as a councillor and his and Lucy’s campaign, the party did not put out its attack under the Labour banner, but the names on the imprint are Labour’s Garston candidates Sharon Connor and Rich McLean and Belle Vale candidate Linnie Hinnigan.
"None of these three Labour candidates live in Garston, making a mockery of their cowardly disguise of ‘Garston Residents News. The scandal sheet is a mess of tabloid-style smears including a false accusation about Sam’s housing."
Liverpool Community Independents’ acting leader Alan Gibbons condemned Labour’s "ugly attempt at character assassination".
He said: "This 'newsletter' is as clear an example of you will find of the toxic culture surrounding the council leadership. Labour should be thoroughly ashamed. The party didn’t even have the guts to produce it under its own name. Labour knows it is on the run in Garston because of its record of failure in our city and neglect of residents in the ward.
"We are running an honest campaign for change. We are proud to have opposed Labour’s cuts to social care, its green bin charge and cuts to the Neighbourhood Fund. Is Labour now saying cuts are good? If so, they should put it on their party leaflets."
"We will not join Labour in adopting the politics of the gutter. We will win this election on our policies and our message: Liverpool deserves better than incompetence, waste and corruption scandals under Labour. Liverpool deserves a clean start."
Cllr Gibbons said the group will be contacting the police over the matter and seeking legal advice.
In a response, a Labour Party spokesman: "A Labour Party spokesman said: ‘Every word in this leaflet is factually accurate, so it’s a case of “the truth hurts.”
"The so-called Liverpool Community Independents love mouthing off, but don’t like it when we hold up a mirror to what their candidates say on social media. We think the voters in Garston have a right to know, which is why we’re holding them to account.
"The plain fact is that they have no plan or workable policies for the future of Garston or Liverpool. They are a novelty act and we think the people of this city deserve better than that.."
Update: Labour said they have been told by police that no action will be taken over the leaflet.
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