General Election 2010: Clr Nicola Turner reveals she may give up council seat if elected to Westminster

May 5 2010 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A CANDIDATE has revealed she would resign her council seat if she was elected to both Kirklees Council and Parliament and was not able to fulfil both roles.

Clr Nicola Turner is running for both Westminster and Kirklees Council tomorrow.

She is the Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Colne Valley.

The crucial three-way marginal parliamentary constituency includes the Colne Valley, Holme Valley and parts of Huddersfield.

But Clr Turner is also up for re-election tomorrow in the Kirklees Council ward of Colne Valley – a much smaller area that includes Slaithwaite and Marsden.

She intends to serve as an MP and a councillor if she wins both elections.

But now Clr Turner has revealed that she may resign from Kirklees if the workload proves too heavy.

A vacancy on the council would force a by-election, costing the taxpayer between £10,000 and £12,000.

However, Clr Turner is confident she could combine both roles.

She said: “There are MPs who are councillors. I would part my heart and soul into being a local MP and combine it with being a local councillor so I could stay grounded in the community.

“But I would resign my council seat if I felt I couldn’t fulfil both roles and was letting the electorate down.”