BOLTON’S Labour group has rounded on the “arrogant” councillor who is yet to admit failing to pay council tax — despite a court ordering the council to reveal his identity.

A top tribunal judge has given the authority until April 20 to name the Labour councillor who twice failed to pay council tax on time — bringing a victorious end to a three-year campaign by The Bolton News.

Now, senior Labour councillors in Bolton have expressed their anger and disappointment that the councillor has still not come forward to put an end to the saga and have suggested that disciplinary action could take place.

Council leader Cliff Morris — who has confirmed that the councillor is male — has also revealed that he will be speaking with the shamed councillor this weekend and will be urging him to come forward.

He said: “I am not in the game of naming names but I will be speaking with the person involved this weekend and I will be telling him to come forward.

“I will be sitting down with him on Sunday because this issue is clearly doing damage to the group. We have followed the law up to now and this is what the law is now telling us to do — I don’t want to go to an appeal, so we will be coming forward with this information.”

Among those criticising the non-tax paying councillor is Crompton Cllr Guy Harkin, who has written an impassioned letter in today’s newspaper in which he says other elected members have had their reputations “dragged into the gutter” by the saga.

He writes: “I cannot be the only councillor who has been accused of being the guilty party. It is not pleasant to go into your local and to be told that you have to pay for your pint of Flat Cap because ‘after all Guy, beer isn’t like Council Tax.”

Speaking to The Bolton News yesterday, he added: “I think to be drawing an allowance as a councillor and then not paying your council tax is perverse to say the least.

“He has now got to consider his position because he has cost this council thousands of pounds of public money in legal costs.”

Cllr Harkin is not the only member of the Labour group to bring up the suggestion of sanctions against the individual once his identity is revealed.

Cllr Martin Donaghy, the group’s chief whip, said: “As chief whip I think this individual has been very foolish in not coming forward at the beginning of this scenario, admitting there was a problem, setting out a course of action to rectify it and apologising for causing the issue in the first place.

“My duty now is to examine whether any Labour party rules have been broken, such as bringing the Labour group into disrepute and considering any form of disciplinary action or sanction. I will be discussing these matter with my Labour colleagues at the earliest opportunity.”

Other Labour councillors have registered their anger at the unnamed councillor, choosing to speak anonymously.

One said: “It is totally inexcusable that this has happened twice and I am appalled that suspicion has been cast over all of us. I think he should have had the guts to come forward at a much earlier stage and explained the reason for what he did. The only conclusions are that he isn’t bothered about the consequences or that it is just pure arrogance.”

Another member said: “The identity of this councillor has been an open secret in the Labour party for a while and I am amazed it hasn’t come out sooner.

“Many of the councillor’s colleagues have advised him to face the music and get it over with and he should have done the honourable thing a long time ago. He has shown poor judgement and there are plenty of people in the Labour group who are very unhappy about this and it feels like they want to discuss some sort of sanction.”

The council has the right to appeal against the ruling.

n To read Cllr Harkin's letter in full, see page 12.