A LABOUR stalwart from Pendle has resigned from the party after more than 70 years as a member.

Former party agent for Nelson and Colne Len Dole said he had left the party because he had become disillusioned at Labour's record in Government.

He said Prime Minister Tony Blair's plans for a possible war with Iraq were the final straw which led him to quit the party.

He has written a letter to the Labour Party headquarters in London explaining the reasons for his resignation. His wife Betty has also resigned.

Len, 85, of Lomeshaye Place, Nelson, joined the Labour party at 14 and was the agent for Nelson and Colne MP Sydney Silverman and later Doug Hoyle. Mrs Doyle was a member of Nelson Council and Mayoress to Frank Hartley in the 1960s.

Len said: "This is a move we have both made with a tremendous amount of sadness, but which was something we both felt we had to do.

"Things have just been going from bad to worse and the Labour party is no longer what it was. I have neen becoming more and more disillusioned with Labour for a while and the situation over Iraq is just the last straw.

"War is never the answer and it helps nobody, it just kills the flower of youth. Negotiation is the only way to deal with situations such as this."