Labour to be grilled on sleaze row

A debate about allegations of sleaze within the Labour Party in Birmingham will be held the House of Commons next week, writes Will Bennett.

Dame Jill Knight, Conservative MP for Birmingham Edgebaston, has won parliamentary time next Wednesday morning. The move follows allegations of dirty tricks in the campaign to win the safe parliamentary seat of Birmingham Sparkbrook. It is claimed that Labour politicians have been attempting to buy the support of party members by helping them get housing renovation grants. This has been followed by other scandals involving the party in Birmingham, which controls the council and holds most of the parliamentary seats. Some leading party members are said to have received public money to run non-existent college courses.

This week, a confidential auditors' report revealed that a trade union centre, which had received nearly £1m in grants from the council, had used some of the money for political purposes. Conservatives may call for an inquiry.