Mayor Luke Campbell cleared of breaking rules after internal review into £1m community fund launch
Reform UK branding which briefly appeared on a survey by Mayor Luke Campbell was added by mistake, according to an internal review which cleared him of breaking rules.
The Olympic boxing champion and mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire Luke Campbell launched his £1m fund last week with a website that invites locals to submit projects for consideration.
But a Lib Dem councillor Tom Astell raised a formal complaint, accusing Mr Campbell of using the website to harvest data for his Reform UK party, and of failing to get the appropriate sign-offs for his fund.
Councillor Astell, a scrutiny committee member on the Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority (HEYCA), was concerned that the website used HEYCA branding, but at the end directed users to Reform UK's privacy policy.
Interim monitoring officer Jayne La Grua said the branding "was removed shortly after the website was launched on Saturday". She said: "The website provider has apologised for this administrative error and explained that it was mistakenly added by one of their engineers due to a misunderstanding."
She clarified that the agreement between HEYCA and the website provider "expressly prohibits the sharing of personal data with any third party".
The Mayor was also accused of not following the correct processes. However Ms La Grua said Mr Campbell had made a “key decision”, and a "decision notice" would be published which could then be reviewed by the scrutiny committee in the usual way.
Mr Campbell said Coun Astell's complaint was "entirely misinformed" and he had "clearly not" read the constitution.
"This vexatious complaint has not been upheld, as per the Combined Authority’s monitoring officer. All rules have been followed at all times.
"I suggest that in the future Councillor Astell is properly briefed on matters before he complains."