BOLTON’S Liberal Democrat leader has denied claims from one of his own councillors that he is courting UKIP.

Cllr Carole Swarbrick said during a speech on the budget at last week’s council meeting that her party leader, Cllr Roger Hayes, had held meetings with UKIP members which had influenced his own budget proposals.

She also criticised “aspiring Lib Dem spin doctors”, whose methods she likened to serial killer Harold Shipman.

Cllr Swarbrick said at the meeting: “The budget proposed by Cllr Hayes troubles me, not least because I don’t know how much of that has been influenced by meetings Cllr Hayes has had with UKIP.

“I hope that those so-called Lib Dems in the gallery put that on social media, preferably on the Lib Dem website underneath the bit that says ‘Jeremy Corbyn has decided to court UKIP’.

“I feel sure that genuine Lib Dem supporters will be as appalled as I was to hear that Roger Hayes has decided to court UKIP.

“Those aspiring Lib Dem spin doctors don’t practise the caring school of medicine, but rather that of Harold Shipman — devious and dangerous.”

Cllr Swarbrick voted against her own party’s budget amendment, which was defeated, instead opting to support the ruling Labour group.

However, Cllr Hayes denies that he held any meetings with UKIP over the budget, adding that Cllr Swarbrick was “misinformed”.

The party leader, who will be stepping down from his role to become mayor in May, said: “It is totally untrue. We have had meetings with UKIP and the Conservatives over the subject of Asons, as has been reported. But there have been no conversations about the budget.

“I think anyone who had more than a quick glance at our budget amendments would see that they were substantially different.

“I was totally puzzled and slightly annoyed by her comments. Unfortunately, she was misinformed.

“We will be discussing this within the Lib Dem group and the party and decide what, if anything, to do.”

Cllr Swarbrick has stood by her comments and said that she would not want Cllr Hayes to hold formal meetings with any other party which could influence Lib Dem policies.

She said: “I feel very strongly that we, as a party, should not be meeting with UKIP. The results of those will inevitably feed into all sorts of decisions that are made.

“I would not want him meeting with any other party. In the town hall, councillors will chat informally to each other — I do that — but there is a world of difference between that and sitting down in a formal way with other parties.

“I have been a councillor for 21 years and this has not happened before.

“To some extent I think that as our numbers have dwindled, perhaps Cllr Hayes finds it useful to talk to other councillors who aren’t from our group.

“But I don’t think that is the way forward.”

UKIP leader, Cllr Sean Hornby, also denies meeting with Cllr Hayes to discuss the budget.

He said: “We have had no meetings whatsoever to discuss the council’s budget with the Liberal Democrats or the Conservatives.

“The only discussions that we have held collectively were about Asons, because we were all singing from the same hymn sheet on that one and felt that we needed a collective opposition.

“All of our budget amendments were different and you can see from the voting patterns that we didn’t come to any collective agreement.

“The first time I spoke to them about their budgets was five minutes before the full council meeting.”