HAZEL Blears is facing a revolt in her Salford constituency after a devastating broadside from Gordon Brown.

The prime minister openly voiced dissatisfaction with Ms Blears who didn't pay £13,000 tax on the sale of a home, branding her actions totally unacceptable. The unprecedented criticism came as senior Labour figures voiced fears the seat - a Labour stronghold - could fall at the next election.

MPs' expenses latest

Ms Blears was drawn into the expenses row after it emerged she didn't pay Capital Gains Tax on the £45,000 profit from the sale of a London flat in 2002.

The Communities Secretary was exempt because the property was designated with the taxman as her primary residence, although it was registered as a ‘secondary home’ with Westminster. That meant she could claim against the public purse for mortgage interest payments and furniture for the flat.

Ms Blears last week announced she was handing over a cheque for more than £13,000 to the taxman.

Mr Brown took the unprecedented step of criticising the serving cabinet minister. He said: “It was totally unacceptable behaviour. I don’t support it.”

The prime minister said he had personally advised Ms Blears to pay back the money.

But he added: “She has not broken the law, she has not broken the rules.”

Dismay

The M.E.N. has learned that Labour councillors in the city, meeting this week, openly expressed their dismay and anger at the way Ms Blears and colleagues had behaved.

One senior source said: “I have never been to a Labour group meeting like it. People were furious.

"On the doorsteps campaigning for the European election, the reaction from the people of Salford has been very hostile.

“They are angry at what Blears did in avoiding that payment. But when she appeared with a cheque for £13,000 saying she would it pay back, it just made matters worse.

Hostile reaction

"There are many people in Salford who work hard but don’t earn £13,000 a year. There is a real groundswell of opinion against Blears. Unbelievably, we could now lose the seat.”

In an extraordinary move, Labour councillors in Salford issued a statement making clear their ‘dismay and in some cases disgust at the abuse of the system by a minority of MPs’.

While the statement did not name any politicians, it continued: “A Constituency Labour Party should have the right to express their confidence or otherwise in their MP and where they are not satisfied with their conduct to commence the reselection procedure.”

The statement has been sent to Ms Blears’ CLP, as well as two others which draw members from the Salford area. The CLP chooses candidates and can also deselect them.

Ms Blears has already been selected to fight a new combined Salford and Eccles seat at the next election. Her actions will come under scrutiny at a meeting of CLP members next week.

Scrutiny

John Cullen, chairman of the CLP, said he was unaware of anyone wanting to push for Ms Blears’ deselection.

“It has not even been raised and, if it was, it would be instantly dismissed,” he said.

A joint statement issued on behalf of the secretary, chairman and treasurer of the CLP said: “Hazel Blears will be our Labour candidate at the next General Election. We have full confidence in her.”

The prime minister made his comments as the parliamentary watchdog announced it would formally investigate the case of Bury North MP David Chaytor and former minister Elliot Morley, who both claimed interest on properties without mortgages.

A spokesman for Ms Blears said: “She agrees with the prime minister that she didn’t break any rules or the law and is carrying on her job as a cabinet minister and MP for Salford.”

'End of Westminster gentlemen's club'

Under-fire MP's heartache

Blears' behaviour 'unacceptable'