KNOWSLEY MP George Howarth has hit out at the way former North West minister Phil Woolas was stripped of his seat in Parliament.

Mr Woolas’s hopes of regaining his seat were dashed on Friday, after he failed in a High Court bid to overturn a decision which removed him as a MP.

Mr Woolas, who was banned from standing for election for three years, said there was no avenue open to him to mount a further challenge.

Three senior judges rejected his legal challenge against the November 5 decision of a specially convened election court declaring void the 2010 general election result in Oldham East and Saddleworth.

In the first judgment of its kind in 99 years, the election court ruled that Mr Woolas was guilty of deliberately lying about Liberal Democrat rival Elwyn Watkins.

Mr Howarth said: “Phil was an outstandingly good minister for the North West and has been a good friend of the Liverpool city region. It brings into question whether the democratic process is an end in itself or just a staging post to court.”