BY-ELECTION AHEAD FOR ORDSALL AFTER SERVING SALFORD COUNCILLOR TO STEP DOWN AFTER WINNING IN THE COTSWOLDS

A serving Salford councillor has been newly-elected in the Tetbury with Upton ward on Cotswold District Council, prompting a by-election in Ordsall as he announces he is to step down.

Christopher Twells sparked controversy both in Gloucestershire and Salford with the Costwolds Conservative party calling upon the Liberal Democrats to withdraw him as a candidate before the election as he already represented residents on Salford Council.

Mr Twells, said on the eve of his win, that he would resign from Salford Council should he be elected in Tetbury with Upton and has now announced that he will be starting that process within the coming days.

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“I will be taking some time off over the weekend and speaking to the Chief Executive of Salford City Council after the Bank Holiday weekend to establish what action I need to take to resign as a councillor, to allow for a by-election to be held in my ward.”

The move has left many residents in Ordsall feeling betrayed after offering him their votes at the previous election.

One resident who wished to remain anonymous told us:

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"I saw the Liberal Democrats as a chance for real change in Ordsall but instead I feel that we have been sold on a lie.

"I find it unbelievable that the party and it's recently elected councillor would effectively drop our deprived area to head off to the leafy suburbs of the Cotswolds, especially after such a short time serving.

"The people of Ordsall wanted change but instead I feel that we have been sold down the river yet again.

It is pretty obvious that he hedged his bets and if he had lost in Upton he would still had his seat here to fall back on, do we really need candidates like that?

I just hope that people in Ordsall are not stupid enough to fall for this kind of tactic twice.

It's pretty abysmal by any standard."

 

Amanda, told us:

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"What do you expect? Seriously, they sell you the moon on a stick and people believe them, only to then wake up and face the reality that we are just pawns on a board to them and all they want is for us to give them our votes so they can move up the ladder, leaving us idiots behind.

"It just goes to show you how quickly they will bolt for the door given a better option in a posher area."

 

Salford City Mayor, Paul Dennet, previously described Mr Twells as a "paper candidate in the Cotswolds" and had called for him to "do the right thing and resign" from his Ordsall seat.

Local MP, Rebecca Long-Bailey previously wrote to ministers urging them to close the "bizarre" loophole which allows council candidates to stand for election in multiple areas.

Earlier in the week, Mr Dennet wrote to Michael Gove urging him to make alterations to electoral law to prevent such an occurrence happening again.

Mr Twells announcement of his plan to step down, will now trigger a costly by-election.

Costs to the city coffers which could have been avoided had he stepped down before hand.