A LABOUR frontbencher has triggered a row by praising the Militant-dominated council which ran Liverpool in the 1980s.

As party activists gathered in the city, Dawn Butler hailed the example of left-wing former councillors who set an illegal budget in 1985 in protest at cuts to central government funding.

Her comments were criticised by senior peers and fellow MPs in a further indication of the divisions within the Parliamentary Labour Party.

Ms Butler, the Shadow Equalities Minister, said: "We are in Liverpool where over 30 years ago the council stood up to Thatcher and said, better to break the law than break the poor."

Her comments at Labour's women's conference revived memories of the party's battles of the 1980s, when then leader Neil Kinnock denounced "the grotesque chaos of a Labour council - a Labour council - hiring taxis to scuttle round a city handing out redundancy notices to its own workers".

His intervention was a key moment in the drive to break the far-left Militant group's hold over parts of the party, which ended with the expulsion of figures including Liverpool council's deputy leader Derek Hatton.

Ms Butler's comments were criticised by fellow Labour frontbencher Baroness Thornton.

The peer said she was "surprised" Ms Butler praised a council that "issued redundancy notices to their own public sector employees, and failed to protect services too".

Fellow Lords frontbencher Lord Kennedy retweeted Lady Thornton, adding: "Well said."

Ms Butler's remarks were "far from what we should be standing for as a party", one Labour MP noted.

A Labour spokesman said: "The point Dawn was making was that like the Thatcher government of the 1980s, this Tory Government has prioritised tax cuts for the rich while cutting services like women's refuges that save lives and keep women safe."

Ms Butler's comments came on the eve of Labour's main autumn gathering where there is set to be a fresh row over Brexit policy.

Meanwhile, John McDonnell suggested the rail industry could be renationalised within five years under a Labour government.

The Shadow Chancellor told the BBC it would be "possible" to bring all franchises back under public control during a single term in office, amid reports he is planning a Public Ownership Unit within the Treasury to deal with renationalisations.

But at The World Transformed politics and arts festival running in parallel with the Labour conference, Mr McDonnell warned "the Establishment" would attempt to resist the party's "radical" policies.

On Saturday, Jeremy Corbyn was given a rousing reception at the women's conference, where he told delegates: "The Tories may talk about equality, they may say their Government delivers for all, but the lived experience of women in Britain tells a different story.

"Labour is the party of equality, the party of women, the party committed to measuring all our policies on their impact on women in society."

But he acknowledged shortcomings in Labour's handling of allegations of sexual harassment and abuse in the party, admitting: "We have not always met necessarily the highest standards, which rightly are demanded of us."