'Ouch': Labour MP Jonathan Brash AttacksAgainst Reform Backfires, After Hartlepool Labour Councillor Found to have been Fined for AML Breach...
- teessidetoday
- Dec 8
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 12
Labour Attack on Reform UK Councillor Backfires, as Brash’s Own Colleague Hit with £6,600 AML Fine....
8th December 2025
A Hartlepool Labour MP is this week licking his political PR wounds, after a bid to expose a Reform Councillor dramatically backfired when an investigation by the Teesside & Durham Post revealed that one of Mr Brash’s own Labour colleagues was fined £6,600 by HMRC for breaching anti-money laundering regulations while running an accountancy firm.
Mr Brash had attempted to spotlight a case involving Reform UK councillor Andrew Harrison, who represents Seaham on Durham County Council. Sharing a link to a Local Newspaper article, where Mr Brash wrote:
“This is Reform Councillor Andrew Harrison. He represents Seaham on Durham Council. His business has just been handed a £40,000 fine after the company was found to have hired someone without the legal right to work in the UK.”
The Local Newspaper reported that a company connected to Cllr Harrison received the penalty following an investigation into illegal working practices. Mr Brash seized on the story to attack Reform UK, clearly aiming to portray the rival party as unfit for public office.
However, within hours of his post circulating on social media, The Teesside & Durham Post unearthed official government data showing that Hartlepool Labour councillor for the towns Burn Valley Ward Gerard Hall — a colleague of Mr Brash when he was a town councillor — had himself been fined by HMRC for regulatory failures in the accountancy business he operated.
According to HMRC’s publicly available list of businesses that failed to comply with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Regulations in 2022–2023, Mr Hall, trading as ASP, registered at 11 Eamont Gardens, Hartlepool (TS26 9JD), was issued a £6,600 fine.
The breach, according to HMRC's own report was recorded as:
“Failing to apply for registration at the required time.”
Penalty: £6,600
Appeal: None
Unlike the case cited by Mr Brash, this penalty concerned a business directly operated by a current sitting Labour councillor for Hartlepool's Burn Valley Ward. The revelation has caused widespread criticism from residents who view Mr Brash’s attack as hypocritical and poorly judged.
Opposition figures and members of the public have also questioned why Mr Brash chose to publicly condemn a Reform councillor sitting on a neighbouring local council while failing to acknowledge that similar — and in this case personal — breaches existed within his own party’s ranks.
This isn't the first time Labour in Hartlepool has been accused of double standards. The incident is adding to the growing perception that the local Labour leadership in Hartlepool is quick to attack critics, but reluctant to address compliance or governance issues closer to home.
The fallout from Mr Brash’s social media post is said to be illustrating a broader problem for Labour locally, with every attempted political hit seeming to invite closer scrutiny of their own practices, and the results are rarely flattering.
Neither Mr Brash nor Mr Hall have provided a public statement addressing the AML breach or the contradiction highlighted by the Teesside & Durham Post’s investigation.
For now, residents are simply left questioning whether Labour’s campaigns against rival parties are grounded in principle, or simply political opportunism that merely collapses under even the most basic scrutiny, leaving little to be desired over Labours upcoming May 2026 election campaign, & a huge own goal for Hartlepool's Labour MP Jonathan Brash...
