Councillor quits over vote-rigging allegations
A city councillor facing trial on allegations of vote-rigging has resigned from his seat.
Former Liberal Democrat John Astley gave up his Lawrence Hill seat two weeks before he would have been forced to resign for failing to attend any meetings at Bristol City Council for six months.
A spokesman for Bristol city council confirmed Mr Astley’s resignation and announced that a by-election for the seat would take place on May 20th.
Mr Astley, 39, was accused of rigging a local election last May. He remains in custody after pleading not guilty to conspiring to defraud Bristol City Council’s electoral returning officer.
The councillor was arrested in August following rumours of irregularities in the proxy voting system, but reportedly failed to answer police bail on October 22nd and was arrested in Holland two days later.
Mr Astley is due to stand trial at Exeter Crown Court later this year. He resigned from the Liberal Democrat Party and the city’s council group in November.
Campaign worker Stella Hender, 43, of Stroud, Gloucestershire, also pleaded not guilty at Bristol Crown Court to the same charge of conspiring to defraud the electoral returning officer. She was released on conditional bail.
Meanwhile, Labour has lost a significant share of votes in the latest council by-elections. The party lost a previously safe seat in Cheshire’s Crewe South division to Liberal Democrat candidate David Cannon, while concerns were raised that the far right BNP party picked up 12 per cent of the vote..
Tory Stuart Moffat beat the Liberal Democrats at Wampool in Cumbria’s Allerdale Borough and the Conservatives also gained a seat at Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough, Northumberland, where Michael Young took the Belford post from the Liberal Democrats.
The Tories also hung onto Aberdeen’s marginal Queen’s Cross ward, while Labour defended its seats at Bennetts End, Dacorum Borough, Hertfordshire, and Staniland South, Boston Borough, Lincolnshire, despite losing its strong margin in both.
