TWO Tory councillors were arrested minutes after stepping off the plane bringing them back from the celebrations in Woodbury, USA.

The pair were quizzed by detectives investigating claims of vote-rigging in May's local elections which centre around campaigning at old folks' homes in Moorside.

The men were arrested at Manchester Airport on Monday (July 10) and taken to Bury police station for questioning. They were bailed until August 29.

Five others were arrested last week in connection with the same inquiry. These are believed to be four campaign workers and a care home worker.

Town Hall bosses alerted police in May following a complaint from a woman whose mother lives in a residential home. She was said to have been "assisted" with filling in her postal vote. Later, police obtained a court order to break open the ballot boxes to examine postal votes cast in Bury's Moorside ward, particularly those made from residential homes.

In the May 4 poll, Coun Taylor snatched the Moorside seat from Labour by 444 votes. He works for Coun Bibby, who was elected last year in Church ward and is chairman of the Bury West area board, at the residential home for the elderly he runs in neighbouring Elton ward.

Mr Dennis Taylor, chief executive of Bury Council and returning officer for the elections, has asked the two councillors for a meeting. He will cite the National Code of Local Government Conduct, which sets out the standards against which the public and fellow councillors can judge the conduct of members.

"I feel it's my duty to invite them to address the question of where they stand under that code," he said.

Mr Taylor said that a councillor found guilty of a serious election offence could be debarred for five years.

Tory group leader, Councillor David Higgin, has spoken to both councillors and plans to hold a meeting of the whole Conservative group to discuss the situation.

He said that, as far as he was concerned, both councillors would carry on with their normal duties in the meantime.

"Neither of them has been proved guilty of anything, let alone charged," he said. "The two councillors have been interviewed by the police, nothing more, nothing less."

A Bury police spokesman said: "On Monday, two local councillors were arrested and interviewed in connection with an ongoing inquiry into allegations surrounding misconduct in a Bury Council ward election in May.

"They and five other people have been bailed and a report will be forwarded to the Crown Prosecution Service."