Council leader removed from Tees Valley Combined Authority cabinet after bringing local authority into disrepute

An investigation had been triggered after an extraordinary meeting of the council’s standards committee in October last year commissioned an investigation by an independent investigating officer and the council’s legal chief.

The investigation found both Coun Young and fellow Conservative Tom Cassidy had brought the council into disrepute for their roles in approving and publishing the flyers.

They were forced to apologise to the council last week, and both are removed from any appointments to external bodies made by the council. It has been confirmed this includes the cabinet of TVCA for Coun Young.

According to TVCA’s constitution, its cabinet “shall be the Leaders of the Constituent Authorities and the Tees Valley Mayor. The Constituent Authorities shall each nominate another elected member as a Substitute Member, with the authority to act in place of that Constituent Authority’s Leader.”

TVCA has been asked to confirm who Coun Young’s nominated substitute is.

A meeting of the Cabinet planned for March 15 - the first since the publication of a highly critical government report into governance of the Teesworks project by TVCA - had been cancelled on account of there being “no substantive agenda items requiring a decision.”

The investigator took issue with two statements in the Conservative Party leaflet, including the line “FACT: No other political party in Hartlepool has ever frozen council tax”, which he ruled had no “factual basis”.

They also found it to be “untrue” that Coun Young “immediately instructed officers to start preparing for a budget that froze council tax”, as claimed in the leaflet, with it being ruled it was council officers being referred to.

A number of members of the audit and governance committee said the breach in standards was “out of character” for Coun Young, however his position as Leader of the council made his actions “particularly concerning”.

At last week’s council meeting, Coun Young said it had been a “difficult few months”.

He added: “I do need to apologise to this council and to the public, especially the Hart ward, for misleading them in the leaflet.

“It was not my intention to do that, I think members here know me well enough to understand that would not have been my natural intention.”

Coun Cassidy was unable to attend the meeting but submitted a formal written apology to the council.

The investigation cost around £8,500, excluding council officer time.

Mike Young told The Yorkshire Post: “It's worth remembering that the investigation was carried out on the balance of probability and not evidence based. At no point did the investigating officer attempt to contact officers of the Hartlepool Conservative Association to verify my position. Or if he did, without my knowledge, he chose to ignore them.

“It is also worth reflecting on the fact that many leaflets get printed and sent to the public, and on this occasion not one member of the public complained to the council about the content of the leaflet.

"I anticipate that the ramifications of this result will lead to much more scrutiny in the new municipal year.”