'Tories run like North Korea' claim as two East Riding councillors excluded

TWO councillors have been excluded from East Riding Council's ruling Conservative group in a row over their subscriptions.

Both Ros Jump and Mike Whitehead have refused to pay the £250 fee in protest over what they claim are undemocratic internal party rule changes.

As a result, officials have informed them they are no longer part of the group.

The row comes just weeks after three other Conservative councillors quit the group.

Cllr Jump, who represents Cottingham North, said she had refused to pay the subscription on principle.

She said: "At the recent group annual meeting, we were told all of the association chairs had agreed that all councillors should pay a new £250 subscription into a central pot, with the money being used for election material designed and printed by the group.

"My point is that the group is not an accountable body and when the election is actually called, it will not legally exist.

"None of the association chairs have the right to agree this because they should refer these sort of decisions to their executive committees for membership approval.

"In my case, my association chairman has bypassed his own executive and his membership.

"The party's associations are the correct bodies to run election campaigns, not the political group."

The Conservative associations mirror parliamentary boundaries, with four covering the East Riding.

Cllr Jump, who is a former cabinet portfolio holder, said she had subsequently discovered that the Brigg and Goole association had agreed to allow its two councillors to each pay just £35.

"In my view there is a two-tier system going on here," she said.

"When I challenged that with the group secretary, she refused, point blank, to answer me.

"I feel very sad by what has happened because all I wanted to do was get on with fighting the election.

"This is an unnecessary and unwarranted distraction, but I felt I had to make a stand because the Conservative group on the East Riding is being run along similar lines to North Korea at the moment.

"Very few people are prepared to put their head above the parapet to speak out about it because they are frightened to do so.

"There is a lot of bullying going on. The party has to do something otherwise it is going to lose of lot of members.

"I believe in doing things by the book. If that doesn't happen, anarchy is going to break out."

Cllr Whitehead, who represents Willerby and Kirk Ella, said: "I do not wish to make any public comment on the matter."

Both will continue as councillors, sitting on the opposition benches at County Hall.

Conservative group secretary Councillor Felicity Temple also declined to comment.

ROS Jump and Mike Whitehead are the latest Conservative councillors on East Riding Council to find themselves out of favour with their own group.

In January, Councillor Nick Evans resigned from the ruling Tory group at County Hall citing "bullying and intimidation" by some of his party colleagues.

Cllr Evans, who represents Howdenshire, plans to step down from frontline politics completely at next year's council elections.

He hit the headlines last year after writing an open letter accusing fellow Tories of being "sycophantic sheep".

In April, Lena Slater and Geraldine Mathi- eson, who represent neighbouring wards in Cottingham, left the group after being dese- lected as a candidates for next year's election.

They subsequently won their appeals against deselection but remain outside of the Tory group.