Conservative PCC Candidate BANNED From Taking Office

Mark Shelford has been elected to be the new Police and Crime Commissioner for Avon and Somerset. As shown on this website, we asked him and the other 4 candidates whether they supported criminal records checks for candidates. 

The checks used to be called Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks. Now they are called Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks.

We asked them:

"Would you support our campaign for criminal records (DBS) checks for all councillors, MPs and PCCs?"

By and large, they did support checks, but some candidates used their words carefully (see their responses here). All supported it, apart from the Lib Dem Heather Shearer, who did not bother to answer at all.

Mr Shelford said, in a quite evasive and vague answer that:

"In relation to roles in public office, yes I believe that there should be checks made on the suitability for candidates to be in public office."

We now wonder whether Mr Shelford had spoken with his colleague Jonathon Seed in neighbouring Wiltshire?

And we wonder what he would think of Mr Seed now the following has been revealed?

Jonathon Seed, the Wiltshire Conservative Candidate for Police and Crime Commissioner has been banned (disbarred) from taking the office.

Because ITV News has revealed that he had been convicted of an imprisonable offence, namely drink driving.

Mr Seed is disbarred, even if he wins the count of votes that will take place tomorrow, Monday 10th May 2021.

If Mr Seed wins, there will have to be another election. The second-placed candidate will not be elected. The Returning Officer has confirmed this.

ITV News has revealed that they had suspected Mr Seed and had been trying to find out the truth during the campaign.

In their report, ITV News stated that Mr Seed refused to answer their questions. 

ITV News are now trying to discover when the Conservative Party knew about the offence.

Mr Seed claims that he told the Conservative Party and they had told him that it would be OK.

The BBC has reported that "(Mr Seed) said he had been advised by his party that a 30-year-old drink driving offence would not affect his candidacy and that he believed he was eligible."

Somerset Independents has been campaigning over the last year for all councillors to be obliged by law to have criminal records checks. 

During our campaigning, several councillors including Conservative councillors have questioned our campaign and suggested that it should be the political parties that do the checks, not outside and independent bodies.

We disagreed with them then. And now this case has arisen, we disagree even more strongly.

The criminal records checks must be compulsory for all councillors, for all MPs, for PCCs and any other elected representative. This includes parish and town councillors. 

And they must be independent of the candidate and independent of any political party.

Do you agree? Tell us what you think of Mr Seed, of the answer that Mr Shelford gave us to a straight question, and of our campaigning for checks.

Contact us - details at this link - to tell us what you think.