Councillor resigns 10 days after local elections
BBCA councillor has resigned 10 days after winning a seat in the local elections because her "business commitments have expanded rapidly".
Reform UK's Danielle Cavanagh won one of three seats in the High Fell ward of Gateshead Council from Labour in the local elections on 7 May.
A statement from chair of Reform's Gateshead Central and Whickham group Lindsay Atkinson said it was not a decision "taken lightly" by Cavanagh, but the party was "very confident" of holding the seat.
Opposition politicians have called for Reform to pay the cost of the subsequent by-election, saying they should have selected a candidate who was "serious about doing the job".
Atkinson said Cavanagh saw it as a "genuine privilege" to be elected but "her business commitments have expanded rapidly and have now expanded to the south of England requiring more of her time than anticipated".
"She believes the residents of High Fell should have a representative who can give the role their full attention," she added.
LDRSLeader of the Liberal Democrat opposition group on Gateshead Council Ron Beadle called the situation "completely unnecessary".
"Now the people of Gateshead are going to have to pick up a by-election bill at a time when services are being squeezed," he said.
"We now wait to see how many Reform councillors are interested enough in their jobs to turn up to the Annual Council meeting next week."
Labour MP for Gateshead Central and Whickham Mark Ferguson said the people of High Fell "deserve better".
"Thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money will now be wasted on an entirely avoidable by-election because Reform put forward someone who was plainly never serious about serving High Fell in the first place," he added.
