Monmouthshire councillor who linked minister’s actions to Holocaust quits with immediate effect | UK News

A county councillor has quit her cabinet post after she accused a government minister of “whipping up anti-Traveller feeling”.

Councillor Sara Burch’s comments at the beginning of August were made in reference to Wales Secretary David TC Davies and fellow Monmouthshire county councillor, Frances Taylor, a member of the Independent Group.

Gwent Police said they would be taking no further action over the Wales Secretary’s flyer which he denied was discriminatory.

The flyer, entitled “Gypsy and Traveller site coming to your area soon!”, attacked the local council over a lack of consultation.

Mr Davies, who was appointed Wales Secretary last October, went on to ask residents of his Monmouthshire constituency: “Would you like to see a Traveller site next to your house?”

Monmouthshire County Council on Wales’s eastern border had a Conservative majority until May last year when Labour became the largest group.

Cllr Burch, who had served as the council’s member for inclusive and active communities since last year, quoted a post of X, formerly known as Twitter, commemorating the victims of the Roma and Sinti Holocaust on 2 August.

In her post, she said it was “shameful that on this day [Cllr Taylor] and [Mr Davies] were out whipping up anti-Traveller feeling in Magor with Undy in advance of consultation about future sites”.

In a statement on Tuesday, Monmouthshire County Council confirmed Cllr Burch had resigned from her position “with immediate effect”.

Councillor Mary Ann Brocklesby, leader of the council, said she acknowledged Cllr Burch’s “genuine regret and apology for her social media post linking the actions of David TC Davies and Cllr Frances Taylor to aspects of the Holocaust”.

“It was wrong and unacceptable,” she added.

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Cllr Brockelsby said that Cllr Burch would be “missed” from cabinet and had been a “dedicated and hardworking member”.

Cllr Burch will not be replaced and instead her responsibilities have been shared between other members of the cabinet.