Reform councillor sends two emails in first six months of job
A Reform UK councilor has been accused of “total absenteeism” after it was revealed he had sent just two emails and attended one council meeting since taking office in May.
Northumberland County Councilor Shaun Knowles has been accused of “wasting taxpayers’ money” by taking £9,340 of his salary since taking office six months ago.
Although he received 948 emails from May to mid-November, a Freedom of Information request revealed he sent just two messages from his official address.
Conservative councilor Wayne Daley, who sent the request, said he had repeatedly tried to contact Mr Knowles after he was “inundated” by his constituents in Cramlington South West, saying he had not responded.
He said he and Cramlington Councilors had “undertaken every bit of constituency work” for him and called on him to resign.
“It makes me so angry that an elected official is abusing the system and abusing the people who trust him, it’s appalling,” Mr. Daley said. Independent.
“I have tried to contact him, emailed, called, texted him many times and have heard nothing back. He is in a party that says they are interested in getting value for money but still demanded every penny of his allowance to do nothing.”
Mr Knowles attended only one council meeting in November, almost six months after he was elected in May. This meant that he avoided the automatic loss of his seat, which occurs if a councilor does not attend any official meetings for six consecutive months.
Mr Daley added: “In reality he only has one option and that is to resign. He is letting the voters and his party down. He is ripping off his voters by giving them no support at all – completely absent.”
“So people need to see that what the Reformation said and what the Reformation did are completely different things.”
The Independent contacted Mr Knowles for comment but did not receive a response.
The party won the first 23 councilors on the Conservative Party-run council in May, preventing the Conservatives from winning the 26 seats needed for overall control.
In the May election, Reform UK won 12 councils across the country, including its flagship council in Kent, where it won 57 out of 81 seats.
On Thursday, Ben Bradley, the former Conservative leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, announced he was leaving Reform UK.
Mr Bradley, who lost his Mansfield parliamentary seat at last year’s general election, was appointed Reform UK’s “head of local government action”.
His new role will focus on reducing council spending, but the party has denied the appointment risks undermining Nigel Farage’s promise that Reform “will not be Tory 2.0”.
