Here’s what you need to know:
‘You’re not going to believe this’
A former Salford councillor who was elected 160 miles away in the Cotswolds is now standing in Cornwall under a different name.
Chris Twells sparked controversy after standing for the council seat in Gloucestershire just one year after he was elected to represent Ordsall in Salford. Despite claims he was a ‘paper candidate’ for the Tetbury with Upton ward at Cotswold District Council, he won.
The Lib Dem councillor refused to resign from his seat in Salford until the following year, meaning he was a councillor in two places.
Mr Twells has now resigned from both posts and is standing as an independent candidate in Cornwall under the name Chris Green.
In an election leaflet shared with the Manchester Evening News, Mr Green appears to criticise his opponent for living ‘six miles away’.
When the M.E.N. approached Mr Twells for comment, Mr Green responded: “I am flattered that the press continue to take such an interest in my life. I live and work in Truro and am standing for the county council as an Independent, as I am entitled to under the law.
“In modern Britain people tend to move around, especially young people, and I think I have something to offer Cornwall Council.”
The M.E.N. understands that Mr Twells previously attempted to stand for the Green Party and Mebyon Kernow the Party of Cornwall.
Mr Green is listed as an independent candidate for the Truro division of Boscawen and Redannick with a home address in the city.
According to CornwallLive, Mr Green approached the Green Party in Cornwall earlier this year and suggested he could stand as a candidate but the party discovered his true identity when he emailed from a different email address bearing the name Chris Twells.
The party severed ties and then he approached Cornish party Mebyon Kernow (MK). Its leader Dick Cole told CornwallLive: “We had someone who joined MK online who said they’d be interested in standing so we invited him to a meeting, which he didn’t come to.
“Then he sent an email saying he might be able to stand in a particular division. However, by that point I had spoken to my friends in the Green Party, who said ‘you’re not going to believe this’.
“Basically this guy approached the Greens about standing and they realised that he had already been a councillor in two different places under a different name. When they realised that they said ‘no thanks’.
“He then tried us and we didn’t engage as we’d had the tip off from the Green Party and then he suddenly appeared as a Boscawen/Redannick candidate.”
Mr Twells was elected to Salford council in 2022 and stayed on as a councillor for Ordsall ward until May 2024, 12 months after he won the Tetbury with Upton ward for the Liberal Democrats at Cotswold District Council in Gloucestershire, narrowly beating the Tories.
Salford’s Labour group had been calling for Mr Twells to resign as local MP Rebecca Long Bailey described the situation as ‘absurd’.
Mr Twells was suspended by the Liberal Democrats and became an independent councillor in the Cotswolds as well as in Salford.
Last year, the M.E.N. revealed that Mr Twells would be standing for a third seat – as an independent town councillor in the Cotswolds.
Mr Twells resigned as a Salford councillor last May and is no longer a councillor at Cotswold District Council either.
Published: 2025-04-16 17:59:13 | Author: [email protected] (Lee Trewhela, Joseph Timan) | Source: MEN – News
Link: www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Tags: #ExSalford #councillor #elected #miles #stands #CORNWALL
