Burnley MP sitting as an independent after Whatsapp group messages leaked
PLUS: Should Preston City Council be investing in a bank if other authorities have walked away?
What do Mark Menzies (Con, Fylde), Scott Benton (Con, Blackpool South) and Oliver Ryan (Lab, Burnley) have in common?
All were Lancashire MPs suspended from their party while sitting as an MP as a result of their conduct - Ryan was suspended this week for his role in a Whatsapp group - but are all suspensions the same?
Sir Keir Starmer vowed to clean up politics and if tabloid headlines over his own conduct have felt a bit weird given the Champagne-and-Karaoke culture previously at Downing Street (in a pandemic), three suspended MPs tells its own story.
We react to what that might mean for Burnley in the near or distant future.
We also examine Preston City Council’s latest plans to invest in a community bank - something that has been called a vanity project by critics.
Oliver Ryan suspended after contributions to Trigger Me Timbers Whatsapp group
An MP in Lancashire will sit as the county’s second independent representative after being suspended by the Labour Party.
The party took action against Burnley MP Oliver Ryan after the emergence of details about the eyerollingly-named Trigger Me Timbers Whatsapp group, which reportedly included racism, sexism and homophobia.
Andrew Gwynne, a longstanding MP currently serving Gorton and Denton, has been sacked by health minister and will also sit as an independent MP while Labour investigate.
Ryan, who is himself gay and was part of the group due to his time as a councillor at Tameside Council in Greater Manchester, said: “Between 2019 and early 2022, I was a member of a WhatsApp group created by my MP and former employer, Andrew Glynne.
“Some of the comments made in that group were completely unacceptable, and I fully condemn them. I regret not speaking out at the time, and I recognise that failing to do so was wrong. I did not see every message, but I accept responsibility for not being more proactive in challenging what was said.
“I also made some comments myself which I deeply regret and would not make today and for that I wholeheartedly apologise.”
Ryan’s contribution to the chat reportedly involved more than 2,000 messages and included ‘homophobic banter’.
A spokesperson for Labour said: “As part of our WhatsApp group investigation, Oliver Ryan has been administratively suspended as a member of the Labour party.
“As soon as this group was brought to our attention, a thorough investigation was immediately launched and this process is ongoing in line with the Labour party’s rules and procedures. Swift action will always be taken where individuals are found to have breached the high standards expected of them as Labour party members.”
Sally O’Donnell, who works in health & safety consultancy in Burnley, was quick to condemn his actions and said she doesn’t want an independent MP.
She said: “C’mon Oliver, with your background in Law, even though you weren’t an MP at the time, you should have known better. I don’t want an an independent MP, you should resign!”
He joins Blackburn MP Adnan Hussain in sitting as an independent MP - although Hussain was elected as an independent in the first instance.
Labour MPs on uphill struggle where they’ve been parachuted in
Analysis by Luke Beardsworth
When Chris Webb, MP for Blackpool South, has to stare down Reform UK at the next general election, he will at least be doing so from the position of branding himself as ‘Blackpool-born-and-bred’.
It was, understandably, a huge part of his campaign. It wasn’t necessarily something other successful candidates in Lancashire could say.
Sir Keir Starmer campaigned partially on a pledge to clean up politics and the scandal Oliver Ryan, formerly a strictly Greater Manchester-based politician, has created for himself is entirely avoidable and entirely stupid.
It feels unlikely that the public will take the view that what Ryan did was less-than compared to scandals that involved Tory Lancashire MPs like Scott Benton and Mark Menzies previously - even if on the surface that’s true.
Instead, the news will likely further the sliding trust in established parties and politicians and - remarkably, given their own record - push voters closer to Reform UK.
It’s not clear if Ryan will have the whip restored but Starmer’s vow to clean up politics suggests otherwise. And that means sitting as an independent for four years, or resigning.
The latter option would trigger a by-election and it would likely be a contest between the Liberal Democrats and Reform UK - who finished second and fourth respectively - to take the seat.
And none of this does any favours for MPs like Sarah Smith of Hyndburn - already accused of being a Blackpool politician dropped into a new and unfamiliar area just for the election.
In the general election in 2024, Labour won the Burnley seat despite actually dropping around 8.5% in the vote share. Fortunately for them, the Tories dipped 20.2%.
Yet it wasn’t Reform leading the charge, despite a 12.4% increase in their vote, but the Liberal Democrats with a 15.4% increase.
The discourse over the coming months will demand a focus on Reform UK and how the seat is theirs for the taking. But Burnley is rarely as straightforward as that.
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16 branches of Lancashire mutual bank with aim to stop money ‘leaking’ out of the region
By Paul Faulkner
Preston City Council has agreed to purchase £250,000 worth of shares in a new community bank.
It comes as the North West Mutual announced where it plans to open its first branches in Lancashire.
The city council has had £1m earmarked to invest in the launch of the venture for the past six years – but this is the first time it has stumped up hard cash to support the project.
The authority’s leadership says it wants to provide residents with an alternative to large-scale banks, but opposition politicians have condemned the commitment of taxpayers’ money to the project with, they say, no guarantee of getting it back.
The North West Mutual concept revolves around creating an “ethical” customer-owned bank that provides accounts, loans and other services only to individuals and businesses based in the region it will serve – the North West of England. The aim is to strengthen the local economy by “recycling” an estimated £900m of money within it – rather than allowing the cash to leak out to other parts of the country.
The organisation is planning to apply for a banking licence later this year and wants to open its first branches by the end of 2026, with a full rollout planned by spring 2027.
The bank is promising to offer what it describes as a “bricks, clicks and flicks” model – combining traditional high-street outlets with online banking – and it has now revealed the scale of its proposed branch network.
Sixteen fully-staffed banks are proposed for Lancashire – in Preston, Chorley, Leyland, Skelmersdale, Garstang, Lytham St Annes, Fleetwood, Blackpool, Lancaster, Morecambe, Clitheroe, Blackburn, Burnley, Accrington, Rawtenstall and Nelson.
They are amongst more than 60 possible bases being eyed across the region, along with a head office at a yet-to-be-disclosed location, which it is intended will open this summer.
North West Mutual chief executive Dave Burke said of the branch plans: “Our aim is to provide access to as many people and businesses in the North West as possible, with 95 percent of residents and small and medium-sized businesses within a 30-minute drive to a branch.
“Whilst we have specific locations in mind to achieve this, we also want to listen to the people and businesses of the region and welcome thoughts and suggestions on branch locations.”
Labour-run Preston City Council’s decision to buy shares in the North West Mutual was taken during a behind-closed-doors meeting of members late last month. The move was opposed by the Liberal Democrat and Conservative groups, who have long criticised the authority’s planned involvement in the scheme.
The only other two councils to have publicly pledged their support for the bank – Liverpool City Council and Wirral Council – have since walked away from the idea. The North West Mutual said last month it was “in discussions with a number of local authorities and other potential investors”.
Speaking about Preston’s ongoing commitment to the bank, council leader Matthew Brown said he was “delighted” to hear of plans for a branch in the city.
“For far too long, much of our mainstream banking system has failed to serve our communities and local businesses.
“Across the North West region, more than half of our branches have disappeared in the last 10 years and small businesses especially struggle to secure the finance needed to expand.
“At Preston City Council, we want to do something about that by directly investing in the North West Mutual as a viable cooperative and ethical alternative.
“Market research shows the public would welcome this new model of banking owned by – and run in the interests of – local people,” Cllr Brown said.
However, Liberal Democrat opposition group leader John Potter branded the bank “an ideological vanity project by Preston Labour”.
“Instead of spending £250k of council tax money locally for our benefit, they want to use it to create a risky new bank which will charge customers £60 per year to use it (see more below).
“Once the £250k seed funding is in the bank, we can’t get it back and we don’t have any voting rights on how it is used. There are plenty of credit unions and building societies which are free to use instead, so why would anyone switch to this?
“Preston Labour should be pushing for banking hubs [new facilities that provide in-person banking services to customers of all banks] in areas like Fulwood which have just lost their last bank – not wasting taxpayers’ cash,” Cllr Potter added.
Meanwhile, Conservative group leader Stephen Thompson warned the authority was playing a high-stakes game.
“My concern is that Preston City Council are gambling with taxpayers’ money that the proposed bank will come into being. [It is] one thing to back the idea, it’s another…to put up money with no guarantees of a return – a risk I would not take with taxpayers’ money,” Cllr Thompson added.
The share purchase was approved by 22 votes to 17.
When Preston first offered its support to a North West community bank in 2019, it was estimated a total of £20m would be needed in total to bring it into being.
Last month, before the £250k share investment now agreed by the town hall, the North West Mutual said around £1m had been invested in preparing the banking licence application, along with developing the systems and financial model for the new bank and analysing its potential market.
Mutually beneficial?
Responding to the Liberal Democrat claim that customers of the new North West Mutual would be charged £60 a year for their accounts, chief executive Dave Burke said no final decisions had yet been taken about “product pricing”, which would be subject to detailed customer research. However, he acknowledged that “a small monthly fee for a personal current account is being considered – and £5 per month [or] £60 a year is the current working assumption”.
But Mr. Burke said the benefits of banking with the North West Mutual also had to be factored in – and stressed many customers would still end up better off.
“We respect that people have a choice about which bank they have their current account with and recognise that not all people would want to pay.
“Our research shows that almost 40 percent of personal current account (PCA) customers in the North West have a monthly or annual fee for their existing PCA [Financial Lives Survey 2020] and just over 40 percent would pay for one, ranging from £5 to £20. So there’s a precedent for paying and an appetite to pay within the customer base of the region.
“People want there to be a positive reason for paying a fee. We believe we have several. We will open 60-plus branches at a time when branches continue to be closed. Importantly, these branches will also have more convenient opening hours and won’t be restricted to the times when a significant majority of people are at work and struggle to access them.
“In addition, we will be paying interest on all positive current account balances, at a higher rate than the majority of high street banks. Our mutual status also makes a positive difference here, in that all customers will be members and benefit from sharing in the profit of the bank. As an example, a PCA customer with an average balance of £1,000 could expect an annual surplus…of £35 [based on earning £20 in annual interest and a £75 annual profit share, minus the £60 account charge].
“In short, there is evidence of enough people already paying for their PCA and being willing to do so. Plus, we believe the branch network, its extended availability and the returns from interest and profit sharing make this a very attractive and realistic proposition.”
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Thank you for reading The Lancashire Lead this week. We will be back with you again on Sunday.
Luke, Jamie, Ed, Sophie and the team.