An Ordsall councillor who was slammed by the Salford City Mayor for standing for election 160 miles away has won a seat in the Cotswolds.
Lib Dems councillor, Chris Twells, won the seat in Tetbury with Upton in yesterday’s (Thursday 4 May) local elections, with 267 votes.
The councillor came under fire during the run-up to the elections, after City Mayor Paul Dennett challenging him to explain how he is a candidate in the Tetbury with Upton ward, having been elected just last year to serve residents in Salford.
A further letter, by MP Rebecca Long-Bailey and Mayor Dennett, urged the government to ban the “bizarre” and “detrimental loophole” which allowed Twells to run for a seat so far fro his home constituency.
In response to the claims, Cllr Twells told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he would resign his seat in Ordsall should he win his race in Tetbury.
The Cotswolds councillor’s previous seat in Ordsall was been taken by Labour’s Benjamin Grogan with 931 votes.
In response to Mayor Dennett’s claims John Grant, chair of Salford Liberal Democrats, said: “[Councillor Twells] is not standing in elections in both authorities. He was elected a year ago in Ordsall ward in Salford. He, like most other working age councillors needs to earn a living as well as his responsibilities as a member of the city council for which he gets expenses.
“This hybrid pattern of working means that some of the time he is working outside Salford but he returns to his home in Salford and can deal with casework which comes from local residents wherever he is. His particular expertise is in running election campaigns which is what he doing just now in the Cotswolds where he is a candidate.”
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