Councillor faces criticism over suicide tweet

Neil Taggart, vice-chairman of the group and on the council for 33 years, caused anger with one of a series of tweets that used the hashtag #LibDemBecause to poke fun at the Lib Dems.

The message read: “I’m a #LibDemBecause, when I tried to commit suicide yrs ago and botched it, the Lib Dems would be the right people to understand my failure.”

The Bramley and Stanningley councillor’s tweet attracted a barrage of criticism from other Twitter users.

Council leader Keith Wakefield called the comments “insensitive” and “not representative” of the Labour group.

Paul Farmer, chief executive of mental health charity Mind, said: “We are saddened by these insensitive comments.”