Leading Solicitor gives legal opinion on illegal sacking

So as many readers will know from this site and others, the Chief Executive of Wigan Council has illegally sacked a Cllr.

After looking over the matter one of Britain's leading solicitor has given his initial findings into the matter. The initial findings are below

Responding to the case Piers said,

If one believes the spokesman, Steve Jones was no longer a Councillor with effect from 5 January and therefore instantly not entitled to vote. However, considering that the intended resignation was only said to be effective on 20 February, that then calls into the question the validity of any votes in the intervening period, or indeed whether he will now be allowed to vote at all.

Piers said,

It seems probable to me that in this case the Council have been premature. We can applaud their enthusiasm and their responsiveness in their desire to fill the expected vacancy as quickly as possible, but it seems probable that they were over-enthusiastic.Does "I will be resigning" mean "I resign". This must be questionable and it must be possible that Steve Jones would (as indeed he did) change his mind.Google again reports a spokesman for the Council, and the spokesman's words are taken from one of the leading text books on the subject. He does not deal with the difference in dates between 5 January and 20 February.

Piers added

the council have merely copied and pasted a section out of the leading text book but they have not looked at the correct section as this section is about immediate resignation and not intended resignations.

We have also have had written from the independent group of the Local Government Association who also confirm that in their view the resignation didn't happen and he is still a Cllr.

Following these fantastic top legal views Cllr Steve Jones put out this statement tonight," Whilst it may have been daft of me to pre-ept what I may do in 6 weeks times it is now clear that what Wigan Council are doing is illegal and wrong! It is absolutely clear that I am the Cllr for Bryn and no matter what Wigan Council say they are wrong. This is not only my view but now but a leading solicitor . It is also clear that they are trying to rush this illegal by-election through asap to try and cut down the time limit I have to challenge them in the courts. That is not my concern. If any Cllrs resigns at this time then it would be better for the taxpyers in terms of cost and time to have 2 elections on one day. But Labour want to see if they can win in Bryn. Regardless of this I am the legal Cllr for Bryn and residents should come to me with issue. On the matter of residents coming to me i would like to once again thank all the many residents across the borough of taking time to contact me with their support. "

With regards Mr Piers Coleman's ability to deal he believe he is because Piers Coleman, a partner in the London office of K&L Gates, acted for Liberal Democrat candidate Elwyn Watkins in the first case of its kind in 99 years to be held in a specially-convened parliamentary election court, which resulted in a by-election being held on January 13 in Oldham East and Saddleworth. This is a case where by he was able to get a Labour MP kicked out of office and trigger a by election as they had broken the law. The first case in 99 years. Those kind of cases are hard to fight and to win demonstrates his ability to take on such a case.