Tameside Council chief's Tory tweet breached legislation

Steven Pleasant apologised and said the post was "not considered"

A council chief who expressed surprise on social media that a Conservative voter "had compassion and empathy" breached legislation, a report found.

Tameside Council chief executive Steven Pleasant resigned on Tuesday.

Mr Pleasant posted the comments in the run-up to recent local elections from his official work Twitter account.

His actions had breached government acts and the statutory code for local authority publicity, a report concluded.

A clip from Question Time showed an audience member who voted for the Conservative Party telling minister Damian Hinds his government is a "disappointment".

Mr Pleasant replied saying: "She was good. Tory voter with compassion and empathy for others. Who knew!!"

Mr Pleasant, who had been head of the authority's paid service for 13 years, later deleted the tweet, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

He apologised a few days later, saying the post was "not considered" and he "should have worded any sentiments very differently".

A report by the council's monitoring officer Sandra Stewart stated "no further action" was required following the breaches.

But her report stated: "A politically restricted officer, such as pre-eminently a statutory officer, must not express themselves publicly in a way that appears to have the intention of affecting public support for a political party."

She added that the breach was aggravated by its "proximity" to the local elections six weeks later, which Mr Pleasant went on to run as returning officer.

The report is due to go before an extraordinary meeting of the full council on 14 June.

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