A LABOUR councillor has been suspended from party after allegations in the middle of an election campaign following allegations of benefits fraud.

Rose Seabury, the deputy chairwoman of Wear Valley District Council, in County Durham, has been suspended from the party pending an investigation.

She remains a candidate for next month's unitary authority elections, but the party has withdrawn its support in light of the allegations.

The complaint relates to widow's pension payments.

Coun Seabury is said to have legitimately claimed the pension following the death of her husband, but continued to receive payments after she remarried.

A Labour Party spokesman said: "The party took immediate action when group officials at Wear Valley District Council became aware of allegations.

"Under election law, the Labour Party is prevented from withdrawing her nomination from the forthcoming unitary council elections, but should she be elected, she would remain suspended until the investigation has been completed."

Party insiders said Labour officials only became aware of the allegations on Friday, the day after the deadline for withdrawing nominations.

Voters will go to the polls on May 1 following the Government's decision to replace the county council and seven district councils with a single authority.

The 126 elected councillors will initially serve as members of Durham County Council then, from April next year, will become the first members of the unitary authority.

If Coun Seabury is elected, she can serve as a councillor, but will be unable take a place on the Labour group if the suspension is upheld. Coun Seabury was elected for the Wheatbottom and Helmington Row ward on Wear Valley District Council in January 2005, following the death of councillor Belle Bousfield.

In February, she was caught up in a row over the party's selection policies, which include a national drive to get more women into politics.

She was one of two Labour candidates selected to stand in the Crook South ward of the county elections.

Coun Eddie Murphy, chairman of the district council, resigned after she was chosen ahead of him.

The Department for Work and Pensions, which investigates complaints of benefits fraud, declined to comment.

Coun Seabury was unavailable for comment last night.