Councillor 'not fit' to be deputy mayor - hearing

The findings follow a conduct hearing for Doncaster councillor Mark Broadhurst

A councillor in Doncaster has been deemed "not fit" to be deputy mayor of a town council after an investigation into "highly offensive" social media posts.

Mark Broadhurst was previously expelled from Reform UK over Facebook posts shared last year and now sits as an independent on City of Doncaster Council.

A Facebook page belonging to Broadhurst contained a since-deleted image which suggested Adolf Hitler would have been a "legend" if he had targeted Muslims.

Members of the authority's audit hearings sub-committee accepted the conclusions of the investigation, which determined Broadhurst had discriminated "unlawfully" against people of Muslim faith.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Broadhurst was a serving councillor on Hatfield Town Council, where he currently serves as deputy mayor, when the posts were shared.

Councillor Jason Charity, who chaired the conduct hearing, said: "This sub-committee unanimously condemns the actions of councillor Broadhurst.

"The comments were clearly racist, islamophobic, anti-semitic and highly offensive."

'Appalling posts'

He added: "It is our view that he is not fit to hold the role of deputy mayor of Hatfield Town Council nor hold a position on that council's personnel committee and we recommend to Hatfield Town Council that he be removed from both roles."

The committee accepted the findings that Broadhurst, who did not attend the hearing, breached the councillor code of conduct in multiple areas.

It recommended Broadhurst not be appointed to any committee positions or membership of outside bodies for the remainder of his electoral term – until May 2029.

The committee also recommended Broadhurst should be given equalities training at the expense of the town council.

Charity said: "As elected councillors, our role is to serve all of the residents in our wards regardless of their politics, beliefs, creed or ethnicity and this is a role which we are proud to uphold as elected members.

"In our view, councillor Broadhurst should have apologised for any offence caused by his appalling social media posts and publicly committed to working on behalf of all residents. He chose not to do this."

The BBC has contacted Broadhurst and the town council for comment.

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