UKIP gain Hartlepool Headland & Harbour

UKIP's Tim Fleming has gained the Headland & Harbour seat from Labour on Hartlepool Borough Council.

UKIP is the official opposition on the council with six councillors.

Candidate	Party	Votes	%
Tim Fleming	UKIP	496	49.16
Trevor Rogan	Labour	255	25.27
Steve Latimer	Putting Hartlepool First	155	15.36
Benjamin Marshall	Conservatives	41	4.06
John Price	Patients not Profits	36	3.57
Chris Broadbent	Independent	26	2.58

North East Conference - 7th February at Hartlepool Borough Hall

Hartlepool’s Borough Hall will play host to the most exciting North East conference to date, with many high profile speakers lined up to take part in the days events.

Some of the confirmed speakers include Party Leader Nigel Farage MEP, Deputy Leader Paul Nuttall MEP and UKIP's Communities spokesman Amjad Bashir.

Parliamentary candidates from across the North East region, along with the North East MEP, will be available for all delegates to speak with and ask their questions. A buffet lunch with drinks will be provided for all delegates at lunch time and the licensed bar will be available during the day.

Click here for more details.

Labour Mayor of Hartlepool survives suspension vote

The Mayor of Hartlepool, Cllr Stephen Akers-Belcher, has survived a vote to suspend him after he was sacked for gross misconduct from his council day job.

Cllr Akers-Belcher was sacked from his job as a team leader in Newcastle City Council's social services department for gross misconduct and then went on holiday with his partner, council leader Cllr Christopher Akers-Belcher when it hit the headlines. The local radio station also called in the police after he allegedly tried to exert undue influence over their reporting of the situation.

The vote to suspend him fell by 19 votes to 11.

Labour Mayor of Hartlepool in trouble again

The Labour Mayor Hartlepool is at the centre of more controversy after local radio station Radio Hartlepool reported him to the police and the council for his behaviour.

Cllr Stephen Akers-Belcher was sacked from his day job as a team leader for Newcastle City Council's Community Mental Health team earlier in the month for gross misconduct and is currently appealing that decision. Now Radio Hartlepool have reported him for what appears to be exerting undue influence over the station not to criticise either the Labour Party or himself. Very few details have been made public but Cllr Akers-Belcher told the Hartlepool Mail from his holiday in Mexico with the leader of the council (his civil partner, Cllr Christopher Akers-Belcher) that his only contact with the station was to tell them not to be political.

Mayor of Hartlepool sacked from day job at Newcastle City Council

The mayor of Hartlepool has been sacked from his day job as team leader in the Community Mental Health Service department at Newcastle City Council.

Cllr Stephen Akers-Belcher was suspended for a couple of months earlier this year before being sacked for gross misconduct in July. Cllr Akers-Belcher protests his innocence and says he is appealing his dismissal.

UKIP members criticised for calling election

Not a happy chappy

A Conservative councillor in Hartlepool has criticised two UKIP members for calling a by-election.

Cllr Ray Wells, the leader of Hartlepool Conservatives, says that the election should have waited until November when a mayoral and police commissioner election are being held to save money.

Cllr Wells told the Hartlepool Mail:

I condemn the actions of UKIP because it will cost the taxpayer thousands of pounds extra.

UKIP are fully aware the by-election could have been held on November 15, the same day as the police commissioner and the mayoral referendum.

That would have saved thousands of pounds of hard-earned taxpayers money but they have decided to call it.

Of course I am in favour of democracy and people in the Seaton ward should have three elected members but for the sake of a couple of extra weeks, the local authority could have saved that money.

The fact that the two UKIP members that called for the election are people in Seaton ward seems to have escaped Cllr Wells' mind.  Would he have criticised two residents who weren't members of a political party?  Unlikely - that might cost votes!

If no by-election was called then no by-election would have to be held, leaving them free to co-opt one of their own to fill the vacancy.  UKIP has historically been quite strong in Hartlepool although that position has weakened somewhat since former UKIP Councillor, NEC member and Deputy Chairman, Steve Allison, resigned to help found the local resident's group/political party, Hartlepool First which has upset the Tory/Labour status quo.

This election is an opportunity for UKIP to regain a foothold in Hartlepool which of course the Tories fear immensely given that they are the smallest group on Hartlepool Borough Council behind Labour, the independents and Hartlepool First with just three councillors.