A Labour county councillor accused Cllr Ryan Fuller – a former Conservative but now independent county councillor for St Ives – of moving 6,000 miles to Thailand but continuing to draw his £11,500 annual allowance. Cllr Mike Black told a meeting of Cambridgeshire County Council that “in the spirit of being respectful to other members I would like to say Sà wàtdii kráp to councillor Ryan Fuller who sadly can’t be with us today and he has an amazingly long journey to get to council meetings”.
Cllr Black, speaking during a debate on councillors’ allowances, spoke of “a chap who came to a football game that I had the misfortune to attend the other day; he came 2,000 miles from Hong Kong and the game was rained off.
“And councillor Fuller is faced with having to travel from Thailand and Sà wàtdii kráp is the polite way to address people from Thailand”.
Cllr Black said: “Hopefully we get value for money from our councillors and I think it is wrong to talk about councillors lining their pockets so I’m not going to say anything about councillors lining their pockets
“But I just think it’s important that we all conduct ourselves in such a way that our residents get value for money for us and I’m not going to criticise councillor Fuller.
“As far as I’m aware he seems to have stuck to his Conservative principles throughout; he was elected as a Conservative, has been a Conservative for quite a long time and I’m not quite sure how long he’s been in Thailand but I’m sure he represents his principles very well. Thank you.”
Cllr Black became a county councillor for the Arbury ward last May after winning a by election following the resignation of Hilary Cox Condron.
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As CambsNews has previously reported it was on September 27, 2022 that Cllr Fuller amended his entry in the statutory ‘register of interests’ declaration.
He deleted any mention of work (he was previously an aide to MP Jonathan Djanogly) and offered no address in Cambridgeshire where he can be contacted, leaving his council email address for contacts.
Cllr Fuller remained in the Conservative party until last month when it was revealed he had moved away to become independent.
Cllr Ian Gardener, chairman of the Huntingdon Conservative Constituency Association said at the time that “since 2017, Ryan has served as the Conservative councillor for St Ives North and Wyton, and previously as a district councillor for St Ives West.
“As the leader of Huntingdonshire District Council until 2022, Ryan accomplished a great deal for Huntingdonshire, and we extend our gratitude to Cllr Fuller for his contributions during this period”.
Cllr Black is a former branch secretary in Cambridge for PCS, the civil servants’ union.
Ahead of becoming a county councillor he said he hoped to use his expertise on low pay “to boost campaigns to persuade employers to pay a real living wage and push the county council to secure decent pay not only for its own staff but for those working for firms that take contracts from the council as well.
“I enthusiastically support Labour’s policies for a public sector national care service modelled on the NHS.
“I want to see a socialist society where poverty is eradicated, and we all have the right to first class education and health care, decent wages and pensions, and social care that provides dignity in our old age.”
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CambsNews has reached out to Cllr Fuller for a response.
