A ROW has broken out over election funding after a Conservative candidate accused his rival of being in the pocket of the unions.

Tory Robert Wilson and Labour's David Crausby have challenged each other to declare who is paying for their hard fought campaigns.

Mr Crausby revealed that unions are expected to fund a large part of the Labour party campaign in Bolton North East but claimed he would not know exactly how much until after the election.

Mr Wilson claimed most of his money came from local supporters but admitted a "small donation" from Paul Sykes - a businessman who has pledged financial help for Tory candidates who have agreed to speak out against a single currency.

Mr Wilson opened the row when he stormed: "My opponent may portray himself as New Labour but in reality he is an old style union man.

"The electorate have a right to know how much of his campaign is being funded by his trade union paymasters."

Mr Crausby insisted the engineering union backed the constituency - not him - when they paid for 80 percent of the 1992 election campaign in Bolton NE.

He hit back: "I expect they will support the Bolton North East Labour Party again but we will not know for definite or how much until after the election.

"Robert Wilson is a young man who is trying to make a name for himself as a right winger but I think it is a sad state of affairs when being a trade unionist becomes an accusation."

Mr Wilson maintained that 95 percent of the Conservative campaign in North East was being funded by local supporters and the remaining five percent from business donations.

Candidates in North East are allowed to spend about £7,000 to campaign for the election.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.