Peace declared after Labour row

AN internal row within the Labour Group on Warrington Borough Council has been resolved with “peace declared” between the leadership and the group whips.
Three group whips – councillors Tony McCarthy, Pauline Nelson and Brian Maher – and group chairman Cllr Chris Fitzsimmons withdrew their resignations only a day after announcing them.
Council leader Terry O’Neill said: “We have had a meeting and some misunderstandings have been resolved.”
Cllr Hitesh Patel, Labour’s communications spokesman said: “Following a short meeting with the leader and deputy leader of Warrington Labour Group which resolved a number of issues relating to the internal work programme of the Labour Party, the group whips have rescinded their offer to resign from these purely internal party roles.
All Labour Councillors, whether they be backbenchers with internal roles or cabinet members on Warrington borough council’s executive board, are united in their desire to help residents get through these tough economic times.”
The row became public as a result of a number of emails leaked to other political parties and to Warrington-Worldwide.
One, from Cllr Maher, revealed that he and the other two group whips had resigned.
Shortly after, an email from group chairman Chris Fitzsimmons indicated that he would be supporting the whips and announcing his own resignation at the next group meeting.
But Cllr O’Neill and his deputy, Cllr Mike Hannon, moved swiftly to end the row, which, it is understood, involved differences over the Labour campaign for the May council elections.