Pike Under Investigation As Police Send Dossier to CPS

Burnley's Labour MP, Peter Pike, faces a nerve-wracking three weeks as he waits to see whether he will face prosecution after a dossier on an illegal leaflet which he sponsored is examined by the Crown Prosecution Service.

The police launched the investigation after a complaint by Simon Bennett, Burnley BNP's Election Agent, that the election laws had been broken.

During the General Election campaign in Burnley last year, Pike endorsed a leaflet from an organisation known as ANL which called upon voters not to support Steve Smith, the British National Party candidate. This leaflet, distributed throughout the town by a 'third party' not contesting the election, did not appear on any election expenses and was deemed to be interfering with the electoral process.

In November, Peter Pike again endorsed ANL's illegal leafletting by stating at an ANL meeting in Burnley that he was . . ."Proud to be here".

Since the 3,000 proxy vote scandal of three years ago, the authorities in Burnley have made it very clear that they will strictly uphold the letter of the law with regard to the electoral process. Peter Pike must be concerned at the implication of this, after his apparent involvement with an organisation interfering in the democratic process.

Equally embarrassing for the Burnley MP is that ANL is run by the Socialist Workers Party, a bunch of mindless street thugs who have been behind recent riots and numerous attacks on the police over the years. Two of Pike's Labour Party colleagues at Westminster have called for ANL to be banned because of its violent activities.






Return to Front Page!