LOCAL MP Ian Liddell-Grainger has accused the BBC of trying to blacken the image of the coastal town of Watchet.

He refused to take part in an item about the economic fortunes of the town which aired on Radio 4’s flagship Today programme ahead of the Chancellor’s autumn statement on Wednesday.

Mr Liddell-Grainger, Conservative member for Bridgwater and West Somerset, was approached for an interview for the item which will focus on the high proportion of local people who depend on tax credit and benefits – and who will be affected by any changes the Chancellor announces.

But he said: “I made it quite clear I was having nothing to do with it. I absolutely will not go along with anything which attempts to paint Watchet and indeed the wider West Somerset as some kind of economic black hole.”

Nearly 180 jobs are due to go in Watchet on Christmas Eve when the town’s paper mill - the largest local employer - closes, bringing to an end more than 260 years of paper-making on the site.

But said Mr Liddell-Grainger: “That is no justification for negative reporting. We are, after all, talking about people and families here: the last thing they need is some journalist pontificating from London about how bad things are in a part of the country he has never visited and knows nothing about.

“Yes, things are tough down here – but they have been equally tough in many parts of the country since 2008. Yes, the district council would like more money to do more things with, but so would an awful lot of authorities.

“But we have to look on the positive side: the developments coming up on the East Quay and the jobs that are going to be created at Hinkley Point just a few miles along the coast. Not forgetting the determination that exists at the council and in the local community to get through this and make things happen for the good of the local economy.

“The last thing anyone needs at a time like this is someone shroud-waving and saying the whole place is going to the dogs.”

The item on Watchet can be heard roughly 90 minutes into Wednesday's episode of the Today Programme: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06pz3fw.