Labour deselects council veteran amid personal battle with cancer

Councillor Neil Taggart will not be the Labour candidate for Bramley and Stanningley next May after a selection meeting this week chose Kevin Ritchie.

Labour has not commented why the long-serving councillor was deselected but it comes after a difficult time in his personal life.

Coun Taggart, a former chairman of the West Yorkshire Police Authority, who lives in Garforth, has missed many council meetings since the summer while undergoing treatment. He is soon due to start chemotheraphy.

Yesterday he could not be reached for comment but made several Twitter postings. In one, he said: “I was ill four 12 months, much pain, missed several community meetings as a result.

“Tumour removal in July. Absences unappreciated by some,” he added.

Council leader and Labour Party colleague Keith Wakefield said: “Neil Taggart has served this city for many years, as both a local councillor and as a key figure in some of the city’s biggest planning debates. Neil’s passion, experience and wealth of knowledge about Leeds will be sadly missed.

“It is a mark of the man that he has already offered his support to the newly-selected candidate for Bramley and Stanningley. Like his other friends and colleagues, I completely understand that his priority now must be to focus on his own health and simply getting better.”

Former Lib Dem councillor Jamie Matthews tweeted: “Even though our politics are different I enjoyed sharing a council with you.”