Reform UK’s Amy Hunter has resigned from her post in Newcastle City Council’s Throckley, Walbottle and Newburn ward, with the party saying her health and work commitments had ‘changed abruptly’
A person wearing a Reform UK rosette(Image: Pete Stonier / Stoke Sentinel)
A newly-elected Reform UK councillor in Newcastle has resigned. Throckley, Walbottle and Newburn representative Amy Hunter has stepped down from her post, just two months after being voted in at May’s local elections.
Reform UK said that her health, personal and work commitments had “changed abruptly” and that she was no longer able to give the role “the time and energy it demands”. Her departure is expected to trigger a by-election this summer, though no date has been set for one at this stage.
Reform won all three seats in the outer west ward in May, on a dramatic election day that saw Labour’s support in Newcastle collapse and the city left in a state of political uncertainty. The council is now run by a Lib Dem minority administration who hold 25 of the 78 available seats, with Reform and the Greens level on 23 following Ms Hunter’s resignation.
Given how tight the battle was between those three parties, a by-election at this early stage could have potentially significant implications moving forward. It also presents an opportunity for Labour begin a fightback on Tyneside, having been reduced to just two councillors in Newcastle.
Labour’s Linda Wright finished less than 300 votes behind Ms Hunter in May and the party will hope that Andy Burnham’s impending arrival as the new Prime Minister could offer them a boost.
A spokesperson for the council’s Reform group told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We can confirm that Amy Hunter has resigned as a city councillor this week after her health, personal and work commitments, changed abruptly post election. We commend her for her honesty in acknowledging the impact this would have on her ability to give the role the time and energy it demands.
“We thank Amy for her diligence and hard work representing the residents of Throckley, Walbottle and Newburn and wish her well. We now look forward to the coming campaign in Throckley, Walbottle and Newburn with a strong new voice for Reform on the ballot.”
Labour claimed that the resignation was indicative of “Reform’s seemingly never-ending chaos in the North East”. A Reform councillor in Gateshead quit less than two weeks after being elected in May, with the party narrowly holding off a Labour challenge to win the resulting High Fell by-election by only five votes on Thursday.
Alex Clarke also resigned as a Reform councillor in South Tyneside after the emergence of sexist and homophobic remarks he made on what he described as a comedy podcast, while also saying that the elected position had been “misrepresented” to him.
Leader of Newcastle’s Labour group, Ged Bell, said: “The residents of Throckley, Walbottle and Newburn deserve a councillor who works hard for their communities, who will deliver results and bring a bit of normality back to our politics.”
