A row over ‘levelling up’ funds has escalated after Heywood and Middleton MP Chris Clarkson was accused of making ‘inaccurate claims’ about the number of times Rochdale council had contacted him about its regeneration plans.
Last week Councillor John Blundell, the council’s economy chief, claimed Mr Clarkson had potentially cost his constituency £20m in government cash as he had stopped engaging with local authority bosses. This was rejected by Mr Clarkson - Heywood and Middleton ’s first Tory MP - who said it was ‘almost entirely inaccurate’ and reflected a ‘political agenda’ on behalf of the Labour councillor.
He also dismissed the £20m figure as having ‘no basis in fact’.
