UNDER fire city leader Chris Holley has said he stands by his leaked letter to Vince Cable in which he accuses a Labour-dominated Assembly of failing to do enough for Swansea.

Councillor Holley said he was peeved that the letter was leaked by what he claimed was a "Cardiff-based" journalist on his blog.

But Mr Holley's actions have been branded "astounding", "insulting" and "crass" by opponents.

Labour's Swansea West AM Andrew Davies said he was writing to the council's chief executive and monitoring officer today, questioning whether Mr Holley's use of council-headed paper was an inappropriate use of public resources.

In his letter, dated June 16, Mr Holley warned MP, new Business Secretary and fellow Liberal Democrat Dr Cable that Swansea would be ravaged by big public sector cuts because they provided 38 per cent of the city's jobs.

Mr Holley said the city centre "has had no investment by the private sector for the last 30 years", apart from small-scale stuff.

Quoting Mr Holley's letter, without correcting any of the grammatical errors, it reads: "This has had a very demoralizing effect on the people of our city."

The letter goes on: "Why are we writing to you is because we need help from Westminster our devolved Government in Wales will not help us in Swansea not only because we are of a different colour party the main reason is that the current administration in Cardiff does not need to worry about winning seats in the city when you look at the last general election figures they retained three seats and they that will be the same in the elections for the Welsh Assembly next year."

To date he has not received a reply.

To read the letter in full click here.

Mr Holley told the Post: "I said what the vast majority of people in Swansea think which is that we, as a city, have had less investment than many parts of Wales."

Mr Kinzett said the letter essentially asked the Business Secretary to redirect public money to Swansea to help the Lib Dems, with Assembly elections in 2011.

"It is astounding that the leader of the council can have such limited political intelligence," said Mr Kinzett. "It is crass, and it is insulting."

Mr Kinzett, a former Lib Dem himself, also mocked the letter's grammar and "rambling and ranting style".

Andrew Davies, Labour AM for Swansea West, said it was plain wrong to suggest the Assembly discriminated against Swansea.

"The infrastructure for the council's own ftr scheme (bendy bus) was all Assembly money," said Mr Davies.

"Most of the money for the new bus station is from the Assembly."

Mr Holley said: "My opponents will say what they like about it.

"If sticking up for Swansea is a crime, then I have committed a crime."

See letter in full on www.thisissouthwales.co.uk

richard.youle@swwmedia.co.uk