‘He should do the honourable thing and resign’
MARK Reckless should “do the honourable thing” and resign his seat, his former Ukip colleagues have said.
The party’s assembly group leader Neil Hamilton has said his former colleague has a “weakness of character”.
“He didn’t have the courtesy or the courage to speak to me about any doubts he had about his future in Ukip or what he might get from the Conservative Party,” he told the BBC.
“Fundamentally he was elected to the assembly not as Mark Reckless but as a Ukip candidate for the South East Wales region.
“He’s betrayed the trust of all of those who selected him in the first place to be a candidate and all of those who worked to get him elected to the assembly. He’s got no mandate to sit in the assembly as a member of the Conservative group.”
Ukip Chairman Paul Oakden said: “It is now incumbent on Mark Reckless to relinquish a position he has only by virtue of a Ukip mandate. The position should go to the next Ukip candidate on the regional list.”
Ukip’s former leader Nigel Farage suggested pressure may have been put on Mr Reckless by Douglas Carswell, Ukip’s only MP who resigned from the party last month.
“He is clearly close to Douglas Carswell, I guess some kind of pressure’s been put on him,” Mr Farage said.
“To be elected on a list and then resign from the party is a dishonorable thing to do, and I thought better of him,” former Ukip leader Farage said.
Ukip donor Arron Banks joined in the criticism, calling Reckless a “weak man that fell into bad company”.
Constituents also critcised the Reckless.
Writing on Twitter John Davies wrote “I didn’t vote for @ MarkReckless I voted for Ukip and that’s what we need in Cardiff Bay.”
If Mr Reckless did resign his seat his seat would go to the next Ukip candidate on the party’s South East Walea list at the time of the 2016 Senedd elections.
The next candidate on that list is Susan Boucher, aLocal Government official stood for the party in Blaenau Gwent at the 2015 General Election after joining the party in the same year.