Leader urges drink-drive councillor to resign

The leader of Peterborough City Council has called on a councillor to resign after he was banned from driving for 50 months for drink-driving offences.

Labour's Shabina Qayyum urged Peter Reeve, a former Reform UK councillor now sitting as an independent, to go after he admitted the offences at Peterborough Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.

She asked Reeve to "reflect carefully on his position and do the honourable thing by resigning".

Reeve, however, said the resignation call was a "cheap political stunt", adding: "Whilst there is no excuse for breaking the law... this is a reaction to grief following the death of my father previously and, more recently, the death of my mother."

Reeve, who was elected on 7 May for as Reform UK councillor for Stanground South, was suspended by the party in August, but no reason was given.

He was charged with drink-driving on 14 August after being more than three times the legal limit on 26 July in High Street, Ramsey, Cambridgeshire.

On the same day, at Huntingdon, he failed to give a breath specimen to police.

He admitted both offences.

In addition to his driving ban, Reeve was ordered to carry out 120 hours' unpaid work and to pay a victim surcharge of £114 and prosecution costs of £85.

In a statement, Qayyum said: "As councillors, we are entrusted with positions of public responsibility. That responsibility extends beyond the council chamber.

"The public rightly expects elected representatives to demonstrate good judgement, integrity and respect for the law.

"In light of the seriousness of this conviction, I believe councillor Reeve should reflect carefully on his position and do the honourable thing by resigning his seat on Peterborough City Council."

In response, Reeve said: "Shabina, the leader of the council, knows that the council has clear rules about what is a resigning issue and what isn't and I'll be following those rules.

"As a medical doctor, I would have expected Shabina to have shown compassion at this time of loss of a loved one rather than turning it into a cheap political stunt."

He said as well as "looking after my constituents as I've always done", he would use his time as a councillor to look into how welfare around mental health and grief support could be improved.

He had previously been a member of Cambridgeshire County Council, Huntingdonshire District Council and Ramsey Town Council.

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