UPDATE: AFGHAN RESETTLEMENT SCHEME AND MY STANDARDS CASE As many of you know, I’ve spent around 18 months under a council code of conduct process after the Council launched an investigation into me for telling residents the truth about an Afghan resettlement scheme in Bracknell and sharing images of the accommodation to show the true level of support being offered. After nearly a year, the independent investigator cleared me of the allegations of discrimination and breaching confidentiality, saying there was little to no evidence and my publications on the scheme were fact based. Nevertheless, the Council refused to accept that finding and went back to the investigator, who ultimately changed his report to conclude that, although there was still no discrimination or breach of confidentiality, I had somehow brought my role into disrepute by sharing information with residents when the Council didn’t want residents to know, despite that information not being confidential, already being in the public domain and clearly in the public interest. The Council has now spent tens of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money pursuing this process against me, including instructing external solicitors. One of those is the lawyer who previously conducted the standards investigation into Boris Johnson. That shows the disproportionate level of legal resource being deployed against me, a volunteer town councillor. With the help of the Free Speech Union, I crowdfunded my legal defence. My barrister, Gareth Hughes, has been fantastic. At the pre-hearing meeting, he set out our arguments and made it clear that the Council’s case would be robustly contested. My estimated legal fees for the advice, correspondence, pre-hearing meeting and the hearing itself are now over £18,000. Without the support and generosity of hundreds of people who donated to my crowdfunder, and the support of the Free Speech Union, it would have been impossible for anyone to defend themselves properly against a process like this. I believe that is by design. This case is now about much more than one councillor. It goes to the heart of free speech and democracy. Can unelected council staff restrict what councillors may discuss with residents on controversial issues when the information is not confidential, the speech is not discriminatory, the information is already in the public domain and is clearly in the public interest? I believe Bracknell Forest Council’s attempts to punish me are an attack, not only on free speech, but on democracy itself. They are using the code of conduct process and the machinery of the state as a means to police otherwise lawful speech by councillors expressing particular political views. If the Council finds against me, subject to legal advice, we are prepared to go all the way to judicial review. The implications of this case are too significant to simply let go. I will fight this to the end.