Councillors quit Tory group

TWO councillors have resigned from the Conservative group to sit as Independents.

Cllr Issy Scott, Hayling West representative for Havant Borough Council, and Cllr Prad Bains, who was recently elected to the Cowplain and Hart Plain seat for Hampshire County Council, have left the group.

Also a Havant Borough Council councillor for the Hart Plain ward, Cllr Bains was mayor of Havant for the 2020/21 year.

Both councillors are now listed as Independent on the respective councils’ websites.

Cllr Alex Rennie, leader of Havant Borough Council, said: ‘It’s sad that two councillors have taken the decision to resign from the Conservative group.

‘I’m sure they will continue to work hard for residents as Independent councillors.’

An email seen by The News says that the councillors’ reasons for leaving the party are unrelated.

In March, then-mayor Cllr Bains said he was the ‘victim of a harassment and bullying attack’ after conflict broke out among Havant councillors over FOIs on mayoral expenses and a complaint made against Cllr Bains.

This sparked a row which led to one councillor being sacked from a position of responsibility and another threatening to step down.

Hannah’s Holiday Home was chosen as Cllr Bains’s charity for his mayoral year, and £13,500 was raised for the charity through events like Think Pink week, where 20 schools took part in nonuniform days.

Both councillors and the Havant and Meon Valley Conservative associations have been contacted for comment.