A CONSERVATIVE councillor says residents are paying the price after a Labour representative became an MP.
Dave Robertson replaced long-serving Tory representative Sir Michael Fabricant at the General Election.
But Cllr Richard Cox, representative for Armitage and Handsacre and a cabinet member at Lichfield District Council, questioned how the new Labour MP had continued to be a local councillor given he had not attended meetings for a number of months.
He said:
“I have no doubt that the pressures of being a newly-elected MP are great, but Lichfield residents shouldn’t pay the price for Cllr Robertson’s parliamentary ambitions.
“He has not attended a meeting of the council for more than six months – and didn’t bother to send apologies or a substitute to the most recent meeting of the Police, Fire and Crime Panel.
“He should either start carrying out his district council responsibilities or step aside for someone who has the time.”
But the Labour MP hit back at Cllr Cox’s claims, telling the Conservative representative his assertions were wide of the mark.
“Cllr Cox may be interested to hear that although I was unable to attend the Police, Fire and Crime Panel on 18th November that I had met with the Police and Crime Commissioner, the Chief Constable and Chief Fire Officer and other Staffordshire MPs in Westminster four days before that meeting took place.
“Perhaps if he’d had the courtesy of contacting me before running to the press then he could have saved himself some time.
“Cllr Cox cannot point to a single decision that has been made that would have been made differently if I had been able to attend any meeting that I have been unable to make since the election.
“Meanwhile, I am the only person who can be the voice of our area in Westminster and to support the new government which is working hard to fix the foundations of our country after 14 years of Conservative chaos and the £22billion black hole that his government left in the public finances.
“He knows that I am continuing to do the day-to-day job of representing the people of Curborough as both a district councillor and as their Member of Parliament.”