Monday 6 April 2015

Labour councillor in Bournemouth refuses to help UKIP supporter

A formal complaint has been lodged with Bournemouth Borough Council after a Labour councillor refused to help a resident because they are a UKIP supporter.

Cllr Ben Grower responded to an email from a resident telling him that because he supports a "racist" party he wasn't to contact him again and would delete any future emails. Councillors are required to represent all constituents regardless of their political persuasion and refusing to do so is not only a breach of a council's code of conduct but a common law offence of misconduct in public office.
A public officer acting as such wilfully neglects to perform his duty and/or wilfully misconducts himself to such a degree as to amount to an abuse of the public's trust in the office holder without reasonable excuse or justification