Tameside's chief executive who quit this week found to have breached rules with Tory voter tweet
08.06.2022 - 18:35
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
The chief executive of Tameside council breached legislation when he expressed surprise on social media that a Tory voter had 'compassion and empathy’, an investigation has found.
A report due to go before an extraordinary meeting of the full council on Tuesday, June 14 has found that Steven Pleasant MBE breached government acts and the statutory code for local authority publicity. Mr Pleasant, who had been head of the authority’s paid service for 13 years, resigned with ‘immediate effect’ earlier this week.
The breaches relate to a tweet he posted on March 25 using his official chief executive account – six weeks ahead of the local elections – in which he responded to comments made by a Conservative voter on BBC’s Question Time. A clip from the TV programme showed an audience member who voted for the Tories telling minister Damian Hinds his government is a ‘disappointment’.
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In a post that has since been deleted, Mr Pleasant replied on Twitter saying: “She was good. Tory voter with compassion and empathy for others. Who knew!!”
The report by the council’s monitoring officer Sandra Stewart states that there is ‘no further action’ required following the breaches.
However it is understood by the Local Democracy Reporting Service that if he had not resigned, Mr Pleasant would have faced a vote at full council on a range of options, including suspension without pay, being stripped of the role of returning officer, and doing nothing.
The report states that on the evening that he posted the tweet a complaint was received from a Conservative councillor over the comment, which was then followed up by complaints from