Under-fire council leader breaks silence over £300,000 gift to law firm
UNDER-fire Bolton Council leader Cliff Morris has broken his media silence – albeit reluctantly – over the controversial £300,000 grant to loss-making personal injury law firm Asons.
This follows several attempts by TheBusinessDesk to interview Cllr Morris over award of the cash under emergency powers to the legal company following its move to the former Bolton News offices at Churchgate House in the town.
The award of the grant has sparked a public outcry, including among many of Bolton’s established law firms, calls for his resignation from other political leaders and even drawn criticism from a local union leader.
Conservative opposition leader Cllr David Greenhalgh, who is also chairman the council’s audit committee, has meanwhile tabled a series of 10 questions which he wants the authority’s external auditor KPMG to ask about the decision.
Granada Reports said it made “repeated attempts” via Bolton Council to talk to Cllr Morris but was told “no”.
However, when a news crew visited his Bolton home asked him over the granting of £300,000 of public money to Asons, he replied: “We’ve given public money to many private companies,” in the doorstep exchange.
Asked if the council had given that much money (£300,000) to private companies before using emergency powers, he replied: “We must have done, I don’t know, I can’t remember”.
Cllr Morris also denied that the decision to donate the cash was not done by him and him alone.
“When all the checks had been done, through a stream of things, I happened to be the one who signed it off,” he said.
The longstanding Labour leader went to say he had “no sense of regret” over the decision, adding: “There is a sense that we have to learn from this. We have to learn that when we do things we are accountable. I am accountable and I accept that accountability.”
Asked if he would resign, Cllr Morris replied: “No, because I’ve done nothing wrong.”
Since 2010, Bolton Council has made budget cuts of £100m and has axed 1,500 jobs.
Unison’s Bolton branch secretary Bernie Gallagher said: “We believe that this decision is flawed. It’s a flawed business model, and it’s not been done transparently. It’s also taken money away from front line services.”
The leaders of Bolton Liberal Democrats group Cllr Roger Hayes and UKIP group Cllr Sean Hornby have both called for Cllr Morris’ resignation.
Cllr Hayes said if Cllr Morris couldn’t answer the audit questions satisfactorily “he’s got no option, but to go”.
Cllr Hornby said Cllr Morris “should consider his position very carefully”. Then asked if he should resign, Cllr Hornby replied: “Yes.”
