Leominster man Jim Miller is continuing his fight for the ‘truth’ behind a bungled town council election last summer.
On Monday night, 49-year-old Mr Miller delivered a hard-hitting five-minute speech to town councillors in which he asked them to demand answers from Herefordshire Council over last June’s by-election in Leominster’s south ward.
Mr Miller, a comedy scriptwriter, urged the town council to ask chief executive Chris Bull and deputy chief executive Annie Faulder ‘why the truth about what happened in an election to this council was kept secret from you for more than six months’.
Last year, Mr Miller was wrongly advised by electoral staff that he could submit a second application for the council seat after the set deadline. Later he was told that fellow candidate, Benson Ferrari had been returned unopposed.
As Mr Miller finished reading from his prepared speech, the mayor, Councillor Richard Westwood commented that it contained a ‘whole bunch of issues’ relating to last year’s election.
Referring to Mr Miller’s initial appeal to the town council last June, Councillor Janet Atkinson expressed her feelings about the way his election nomination was handled.
“I felt as equally disgusted as Mr Miller did,” she said. “It was an appalling error.”
Councillor Atkinson claimed the matters were ‘far too important to discuss limply’, and agreed with her husband, Councillor Eddie Clark, that more time was needed to consider printed copies of Mr Miller’s speech.
Councillor Peter Goody also believed it needed ‘serious consideration’.
The town council has called a special meeting for Monday night in the council chamber.