The suspended leader of a group of independent councillors in Liverpool has taken aim at her deputy leader, accusing him of a 'power grab.'
Princes Park councillor Anna Rothery was suspended by the Liverpool Community Independents group which she leads after she was named in the ECHO's parking tickets investigation in February.
Cllr Rothery was one of 14 current and former Labour elected members the ECHO named as having parking fines rescinded by officers in the period between 2015 and 2020. The former Lord Mayor previously apologised for an 'error of judgement' and said she was told that because she was on council business, her fine would be rescinded.
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Cllr Rothery was one of a number of former Labour councillors who quit the party last year to form the Community Independents. She was then elected as leader of the group.
In recent days she has taken aim at the group and in particular deputy leader Cllr Alan Gibbons over the decision to suspend her. Responding to a campaign video posted by Cllr Gibbons ahead of May's local elections, Cllr Rothery said: "Do your followers know you suspended me so you could take the leadership flaunting all the rules regarding hard fought for union rights to protect sick workers.
She added: "You didn’t even follow our own process flaunting all disciplinary processes and standing in the way of natural justice we both know it was a leadership grab. I had 1 (parking fine) in 2016. Don’t try to mislead people, it was investigated. Your motivation was to take your leader and your opponent out. Will be interesting to see what your reward will be for finishing the LP (Labour Party) job."
In a response to the ECHO, Cllr Gibbons said: "Anna has correctly apologised in a Twitter statement for an error of judgement over the parking fine. We believe all the involved councillors should admit fault.
"At seventy, I am not about personal ambition, but the council explaining how this 'custom and practice' of circumventing the PCN process occurred. This must be clarified and I have written to the City Solicitor and Monitoring Officer Dan Fenwick to this effect."
A response from the wider independent group added: "We called for and continue to call for all councillors who had fines rescinded to be suspended pending investigation by the relevant bodies. This is not a matter of personalities, but of political principle. Councillors should follow the same rules as every other Liverpool citizen."
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