Missing in action

Voters deserve an explanation

JARED O’MARA promised to be a “champion in Westminster” for fellow disabled people following his victory over Nick Clegg in Sheffield Hallam at last June’s General Election.

The former music promoter, who has cerebral palsy, said becoming a politician had been his ambition since he was a child. But his dream became a nightmare as he was suspended by Labour in October after a series of highly offensive online messages he had posted in the 2000s came to light.

Mr O’Mara released a statement in December that said while he was limiting duties including going to Parliament on medical advice, he was continuing to work “very hard” for constituents.

But Mr O’Mara, who is paid £74,000-a-year as an MP, has not regularly been attending work at his constituency office, with his staff unwilling to reveal the last time he turned up. His office manager was also unable to provide The Yorkshire Post with a single example of where he has actively helped a constituent. Mr O’Mara has not responded to repeated attempts to give his side of the story. This is clearly a delicate matter, given its relation to someone’s health, and there is no doubt it will have been very difficult for the politically inexperienced Mr O’Mara to have unexpectedly found himself in the media spotlight over comments made when he was a much younger man.

But if an MP’s office says he is working hard and then cannot account for how he is doing so, a proper explanation is needed. More than 21,000 people voted for Mr O’Mara; the people of Sheffield Hallam deserve to know what he is doing on their behalf.