Resignation call over special needs comments

An MP has called for the resignation of three Warwickshire councillors accused of making offensive comments about children with special educational needs and disability (SEND).

Warwick and Leamington MP Matt Western said their remarks were “disgraceful”.

The Conservative councillors at the centre of the row have apologised for their comments, which were made during a council meeting last month.

The remarks included the claim some children were "just really badly behaved", and that parents were swapping diagnosis tips on social media.

Labour MP Mr Western wrote in a letter to Warwickshire County Council: "I am deeply concerned about several ignorant and insulting comments made by councillors Hammersley, Morgan and Golby."

He added the comments were "extremely concerning" and urged the council to take action over the matter.

"To hear what was said in those recordings exposes a complete failure to appreciate the scale of the problem and a total disrespect for the families involved and I think on this occasion they should resign,” Mr Western told the BBC.

“The public want to see some definite action because these parents are facing deep challenges, they are not getting their educational health care plans, it’s taking two years for those, they are not getting the diagnosis when they need them, they are at their wits end."

Mr Western also called on the local authority to host a meeting with the parents on children with special needs in the county to hear their concerns.

Video of the meeting was shared on social media, prompting fury from parents of children with special educational needs and campaigners.

Warwickshire County Council said it "acknowledges the scale of the upset" caused by the comments.

All three councillors have since issued apologised, with Mr Morgan saying he regretted "any offence caused by my choice of words."

Mr Hammersley said he was "terribly sorry" and wished to "apologise unreservedly for the comments".

Mrs Golby said she accepted the words used at the meeting "were open to interpretation" but added it was not her intention to cause offence.

Councillor Isobel Seccombe, leader of the council, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service she accepted the councillors' apologies.

Mike Fletcher, a father of two from Studley, has also called for the councillors to leave their positions.

“[I feel] absolute anger that politicians in charge of providing funding for special needs have such archaic views on the needs of children in the area.

“To hear these comments is sickening. This behaviour needs to be called out and they need to be held to account. The council needs to address the way it funds special needs in the area.

Mr Fletcher’s nine-year-old son is currently undergoing assessment for dyslexia.

He added: “We’ve been advised that Warwickshire Council does not fund dyslexia assessments and we’d have to arrange for it to be done privately.

“So many people cannot afford that, it’s a postcode lottery - it’s unfair.”

"This is not Warwickshire, it is not what I or my administration reflect," Ms Seccombe said.

"The comments are not what Warwickshire would recognise and they are certainly not what I would recognise.”

Ellie Costello, a co-ordinator with the SEND National Crisis campaign said she was "shocked" by the comments, which she described as "discriminatory, stigmatising, ill-informed at best and harmful at worst".

She said she thought the councillors should resign "because these are the people who are meant to be representatives of the children and families in their communities".

Within two days, 16,500 people have signed a petition calling for the councillors to be dismissed from their roles and for the local authority to launch a review into how funding is allocated for SEND provisions.

A parent carer group is planning to protest outside Shire Hall in Warwick before the county council votes on its annual budget on Thursday.

Mrs Seccombe has met a minister in London to discuss government funding for SEND support provided by councils.

Council meetings are usually sedate affairs only hardcore politicos pay any attention to.

Not this one. What started as a slow-burning backlash against comments made by three Tory councillors two weeks ago has now exploded into a fiasco.

Apologies came on Tuesday night, but rather than douse the flames, they appear to have added fuel to the fire.

The councillors face growing calls for them to resign but, apart from their brief statements, they’ve gone to ground.

The timing couldn’t be worse either. On Thursday, the county council will seek to pass its annual budget, which includes contentious plans to change its transport service for SEND children.

It could be a stormy affair, with interventions from opposition councillors and a protest by parents outside expected.

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