Statement from the Liberal Democrats

2.57.42pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 5th Dec 2006

The Liberal Democrats on Bradford Council have expelled Councillor Robert Hargreaves from the group and urged the local party to take action to have him expelled from the Liberal Democrats.

Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, the group leader said,

" I have informed Councillor Hargreaves of the action we have taken and urged him in the strongest possible terms to resign as a councillor.

Unfortunately, a serious flaw in the legislation means that the Council cannot suspend him in spite of the seriousness of the offences of which he has been convicted. Unless he resigns of his own accord he can continue to sit as an independent councillor until he is sentenced at the end of January.

The Standards Board have also said they cannot act but they have also said that they regard the present position as ' highly unsatisfactory'. They go on to say ,

' We have urged the relevant Minster to review the obvious deficiencies in the statutory framework and to change the law to make it more effective as soon as possible. Meanwhile, we wish to be as helpful as possible to the Authority ……….and we are prepared to arrange for the Board to be separately represented at any application for an injunction. This is because we believe that an application for an injunction is the quickest way to get this matter before a court which is capable of taking action against the Member concerned.'