Tories to elect new leader as councillor turns MP
BUT EX-CONSERVATIVE CHIEF WILL NOT RESIGN COUNCIL SEAT YET
A BRIGHOUSE councillor elected as an MP is to be replaced as Tory leader on Calderdale Council – but won’t resign his seat just yet.
Clr Scott Benton won the Blackpool South seat for the Conservatives in December’s General Election, overturning a Labour majority.
And the Conservative Group on Calderdale Council is expected to appoint a new leader this week following Clr Benton’s election to Parliament.
The Examiner understands that Clr Benton has indicated that, for the time being at least, he will not be giving up his Brighouse seat.
He was first elected to the council in May 2011, re-elected in 2015 with an increased majority and successfully defended the seat for a second time last year.
After a period as deputy leader, Clr Benton took on the leadership of his group in spring 2016 when Clr Stephen Baines stepped down.
Clr Benton stood for the Tories in Huddersfield in the 2017 General Election, coming second to Labour’s Barry Sheerman.
Clr Benton has also worked for Calder Valley Conservative MP Craig Whittaker, who retained his seat last month.
On outside bodies Clr Benton is a member of the Shareholder Committee of the Local Development Company set up by the council, a member of West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Governance and Audit Committee, a trustee of Brighouse War Memorial (Nurses Endowment Fund) and a member of Waring Green Community
Association Management Committee.
Clr Benton won the Blackpool South seat with a majority of 3,690 and in a statement on his website said: “I will repay the trust shown in me by being a full-time MP who will serve your interests – not self interest.”