Controversy and chaos reign within Reform UK’s Exeter branch, where the party chairman has been suspended for “bringing the party into disrepute”, after reporting allegations of election overspending by his own party to the police.
The story centres on Cllr Neil Stevens who is in trouble for overspending to the tune of £170 during his recent successful council election campaign.
Promptly suspended
The Exeter Reform branch chairman, Ed Hill, also elected in May, reported the matter to the police, to the extreme annoyance of the party hierarchy who promptly suspended him. They released a statement saying:
“Ed Hill has been removed as chairman of Reform UK Exeter after bringing the party into disrepute.
“There’s currently an ongoing internal investigation into the matter so we won’t be commenting further.”
Hill was originally the election agent for Stevens but campaign manager Rob Sheridan was appointed in his place the day before the election expenses forms were submitted. According to Hill, he had already reported his concerns to the police and the Electoral Commission two days earlier.
Sheridan has said he is ‘confident’ there was no error.