Former Rochdale Council leader ‘lied’

The former leader of Rochdale Council has been suspended from the Labour Party after a report from an inquiry into child sexual abuse said he lied when giving evidence.

Richard Farnell continues to insist that he was not told about allegations of abuse spanning three decades at residential schools in the borough.

But the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse said it was “shameful” that he had “refused to accept responsibility for young lives blighted” in the town.

Dozens of allegations of abuse emerged after the town’s former MP Cyril Smith died in 2010.