A SOUTH Gloucestershire councillor has been suspended from the Labour Party after he admitted being in charge of a vehicle after taking cocaine.
Matt Palmer said he could not remember taking the drug but was suffering mental health problems and taking strong prescription medication at the time of the early-hours incident in July.
Cllr Palmer represents the New Cheltenham ward, which includes the Siston Hill estate, and is a former Emersons Green town councillor.
He pleaded guilty to being in charge of a vehicle while above the limit for a specified controlled drug at Bristol Magistrates Court on November 10, and is due to be sentenced in December.
Labour said he had not informed them of the case after his arrest.
A South Gloucestershire Labour spokesperson said: “The Labour group has withdrawn the whip from Cllr Matthew Palmer with immediate effect, due to failure to disclose a court matter and misrepresentation to the group.
“The group takes the standards and integrity of its members very seriously.”
Cllr Palmer said he would continue to sit as an independent councillor.
He said: “I was struggling with mental health for some time and was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.
“I was found at the side of the road. I was in crisis.
“I don’t remember doing the cocaine, I was so drunk.
“It happened, and I can’t deny it happened.
“I can’t say a bad word about the Labour group – they did what they had to.”
Cllr Palmer has chaired the council’s health overview scrutiny committee this year and was previously Labour’s lead councillor for planning.
While a town councillor, he campaigned to save Emersons Green Primary School’s resource base and for new schools in Lyde Green.
By Adam Postans, Local Democracy Reporting Service