The incident, triggered by a dispute over four children of a Romani family being taken into care by social services and police in Yorkshire, sparked Coun Liam Billington to make a controversial Facebook post the following day (July 19, 2024).
Social media call to scrap help for immigrants
In the social media post, which has since been deleted, the Conservative councillor called for translators to be scrapped; funds for immigration charities/groups to be stopped; and a hyper tax on landlords who are booting out tenants in exchange for housing asylum seekers at three times the market rate.
Council documents show the Stalybridge South ward representative went on to say ‘if that makes me a far right or racist, so be it’.
This led to a complaint from the former councillor Jim Fitzpatrick, who described the post as ‘disgraceful’.
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Standards Committee decided the comments were disrespectful
A meeting of Tameside Council’s Standards Committee to decide Coun Billington’s fate judged his comments to be disrespectful and to have brought Tameside Council into disrepute.
Independent investigator, Linda Comstive, found the post to be discriminatory and offensive, the hearing in Dukinfield Town Hall was told. Ms Comstive found no breach for bullying though, which had also been alleged.
She said:
The Facebook post is disrespectful to other councillors and the public. The post was made in response to riots in Leeds. It was not part of a council debate.
His post on the Facebook social media platform was made in his role as a councillor and he did not need to use the words he did. He used the incident to promote his discriminatory and racist views in his role as a councillor.
The words of the Facebook post show disrespect for people who work in immigration, for asylum charities and partner organisations that work in this area.
Ms Comstive added that the quote ‘if that makes me a far right or racist, so be it’ is an admission of his racism.
The councillor denied admitting being a racist
Coun Billington, who arrived at the hearing wearing a MAGA (Make America Great Again) hat, said this was not an admission of being a racist, but in direct reaction to those who label him as such for raising concerns over immigration issues.
Coun Billington told the meeting on June 16:
I stand by those comments, but they are political. They are not me speaking on behalf of the council, saying this is what the council wants, because I’m not in the controlling group.
To say that I’m racist, I’m not a racist. It is often an accusation levied at people with concerns with immigration or even grooming gangs to be labelled as far right.
He went on to say:
I use my Facebook page for political communication and I make that very clear. I feel that if the committee makes a decision today based on something I’ve done on social media acting in a political manner, are we then going to start policing election leaflets, because I don’t think that would be just.
In terms of treating other councillors and members of the public with respect, I didn’t reference any councillor or member of the public in that.
It was just a sweeping statement. I have repeated some of these points in council and other meetings as people have had general concerns about immigration and the impact it’s having.
After being found by the standards sub committee, Coun Billington described the hearing as ‘politically motivated’, ‘ridiculous’ and ‘a kangaroo court from start to finish’.
What the post said
On July 19, 2024, the politician wrote to his Cllr. Liam Billington Facebook page:
The scenes of riots across the country are disgraceful. Put it plainly, they are from immigrant backgrounds. This is the price of multiculturalism combined with weak leadership from a metropolitan elite who won’t have to live with it.
As a councillor, I’ve resisted more immigration and we should not make life easy for it to be appeased either. I’ve called for translators to be scrapped, funds for immigration charities/groups to be stopped and a hyper tax on landlords who are booting out tenants in exchange for housing asylum seekers at 3x the market rate. This is why Tameside has had the sharpest increase in rents of anywhere in the county.
If that makes me far right to be a racist. So be it. As your voice on the council, I stand up for you and your values.
The next stages
Coun Billington was found to be in breach of four sections of the council’s code of conduct:
- Treat other councillors and members of the public with respect
- Treat local authority employees, and representatives of partner organisations and those volunteering for the local authority with respect and respect the role they play
- Promote equalities and do not discriminate unlawfully against any person
- You must not conduct yourself in a manner, which could reasonably be regarded as bringing your office or the council into disrepute
The sanctions recommended for Coun Billington are to censure him (a formal announcement of his code breaches); restriction of council building access; training on equality and social media use; and having a monitoring officer ensure he complies.
The sanctions would have to be voted through at the next meeting of the council.
