A SENIOR councillor will have to apologise to every member of Bradford Council for using the authority's resources in his election campaign.

This year, letters were printed in the Council’s Conservative office seeking support for its group leader Councillor Glen Miller, who was standing for re-election in the Worth Valley.

It is against civil law for the Council to use its resources to affect public support for a political party, under the Local Government Act 1986.

Now the Council's standards committee has decided that Cllr Miller should apologise to all elected councillors within 28 days. It is understood he will make the apology at a meeting of the full council next month.

Cllr Miller has already paid a bill for the materials used, of £100 plus VAT, and also said he would make a voluntary donation to the Lord Mayor's Charity Appeal by way of apology.

But the amount the materials were worth has been disputed, and at a meeting of the Council's governance and audit committee today, its chairman asked for the council's internal auditors to look into the matter and resolve it once and for all.

Councillor Lynne Smith said: "The purpose of the auditor looking at things is to just give us a report as to why there are all these different figures flying about and demonstrate that there is no underlying conspiracy.

"In terms of the individual concerned, to the best of my knowledge, they were given a bill and they paid it. I think the discrepancy is somewhere between finance and legal, as far as I can see."

She said for the committee to devote any more time to the matter would be "just adding to the cost of the whole endeavour", and the auditors were the right people to look into it.

After the meeting, the Conservatives' deputy leader, Councillor Simon Cooke, said he was glad they had now drawn a line under the matter, but was disappointed that "it has taken six months when it was admitted on day one".

He added: "I think the chair was right, we need to move on."

Earlier this year, Cllr Miller said he had "conceded from day one that an error of judgement was made".