Once touted as a future successor to Salford city mayor Paul Dennett, Jack Youd is now without a job in elected politics
Salford’s Labour deputy mayor has lost his council seat in a spectacular win for Reform UK in the local elections this evening (May 8). Jack Youd came a distant second to Reform UK’s Miles Henderson in the Walkden North race, with 953 votes to Henderson’s 1,209.
The result means Youd, once touted as a future successor to Salford city mayor Paul Dennett, is now without a job in elected politics.
Mr Youd was at the centre of a Salford council investigation last November, when officials launched a probe into claims a misconduct complaint against deputy mayor Jack Youd was removed from the email inboxes of councillors without their knowledge.
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Town hall chiefs said the sender’s anonymous email address and the wording of the email ‘raised immediate concerns’ over IT security when it arrived, with the term ‘anonymous’ being associated with an ‘active hacking group’, prompting its removal.
But the move sparked claims of a ‘cover up’ at the town hall to protect the deputy mayor from scrutiny.
Salford Lib Dems said in October: “It’s deeply concerning that the Labour-run Salford council appears to have removed complaint emails from councillors’ inboxes and failed to carry out any investigation despite a clear complaint being made.”
The Manchester Evening News revealed last year the original complaint alleged Mr Youd had a relationship with a woman who works at the council. Mr Youd is married to another woman who is an elected councillor in Salford.
He said in October: “Last year I had a relationship, the personal repercussions of which I regret. People I care for were hurt and I am sorry for the pain caused.”
Council bosses said they reviewed the allegations but did not believe disciplinary action needed to be taken. A spokesperson said at the time: “The council is aware of this matter and has brought it to the attention of the council’s monitoring officer, who having taken external advice, has concluded that the matter does not meet the legal threshold (as required under the Localism Act 2011) to engage the Members’ Code of Conduct.
“It is not appropriate for the council to comment on individual staffing cases, and so we will not be making any further statement on this matter.”
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