Somerset councils poll 'should be annulled' after error

A "costly and confusing" poll on Somerset's local government has "trashed the reputation" of the county council after information linking to a spoof website was sent to voters.

Somerset County Council said the poll, run by four district councils, should be "declared null and void".

Local MPs said the mistake had "corrupt" the democratic process.

But Sedgemoor District Council said the poll did not invalidate the vote and should not be annulled.

The pack was sent out by post and included leaflets with information about two suggested plans for how government services in Somerset should be run - with one including a link to a spoof version of the official One Somerset website.

Now the county council has called on the district councils - Mendip, Sedgemoor, Somerset West and Taunton and South Somerset - to "apologise and set the record straight".

A spokesman for Somerset County Council said: "This costly and confusing poll has trashed the reputations of Somerset County Council, our leader, one of our MPs, and hundreds of hard-working staff and councillors.

"The spoof website is still live, residents are still being directed to view it, and it is still causing offence, upset and confusion."

It wants the poll to be declared null and void "before further damage is done".

It comes after the county council proposed replacing it and four district councils with a new single unitary council.

But the four district councils have said they would prefer to create two unitary councils, for West and East Somerset.

The poll has also been criticised for wasting £300,000 of public money, and has come under further scrutiny following the release of the leaflet.

Somerset County Council said the poll and materials were paid for and produced by the district councils and were "nothing to do with SCC".

The district councils have said they are investigating how the error occurred and have contacted police.

Leader of Sedgemoor District Council Duncan McGinty said: "We have taken every measure we can to rectify the situation and hopefully the poll is still valid, the site is nothing to do with us, although it is unfortunate that it is there, we have done everything that we can to have it removed."

He added the website was "an affront to democracy" and was "undermining" the intention to give the people of Somerset a say in how government services are run in the future, but said it did not make the vote "worthless".

In a joint statement, the four councils said the leaflet was drafted by an independent third party but stated "more efforts should have been made when the documentation was being produced and independently verified to ensure all information was correct".

Somerset MPs James Heappey, Marcus Fysh, Rebecca Pow and David Warburton, said the website was "deeply misleading", adding that it "has corrupted this process".

They have called on the four returning officers "to apologise for the inclusion of a spoof website address in the literature and to declare the referendum void".

The poll will run until 4 June and the final decision rests with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Robert Jenrick MP.

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