'Those powers don't exist': Wolverhampton council's frustration after 'stolen valour' councillor refuses to comply

Former mayor Councillor Greg Brackenridge was ordered in July to issue a formal apology after being found in breach of the council's code of conduct by falsely claiming to have served as a Royal Marine.

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But a meeting of the council's governance and ethics committee heard that, having taken his own legal advice, Councillor Brackenridge offered only a 'watered down' apology, which did not comply with the committee's order. 

Councillor Brackenridge's failure to abide by the order of the ethics committee will now be the subject of an item on the agenda for tonight's Wednesday's) meeting of the council.

David :Pattison, returning officer at the council, said there was little more that the council could do under present law. He said the Government was looking at strengthening the regulations, so that in future councillors would be able to have their allowances suspended.

In addition to being ordered to make the apology, Councillor Brackenridge was also suspended from the council's Labour group, and removed from the council's resources and equality scrutiny panel.

Council legal officer, Shamsher Zada, said: "Councillor Brackenridge, on the basis of independent legal advice that he had received, has issued a different apology than the one required."

Mr Zada said Councillor Brackenridge failed to say that, in future, he would make it clear that he was only ever a Royal Marine recruit, and not a Royal Marine, because he did not complete his training. He also refused to say that his claims to have served as a Royal Marine were were inaccurate, and understandably led to questions about his integrity and respect for those who genuinely served. He also declined to say that he deeply regretted any offence he had caused to those who had served in the armed forces, or acknowledge that he had undermined public trust.

Ethics committee chairman, Councillor Rita Potter, said the apology that Councillor Brackenridge had offered was not acceptable.

"That is not what the panel asked for, it has been greatly watered down in my opinion," she said.

She asked Mr Pattison if there was anything more that could be done, but he concluded that all that was now left was to report the matter back to the council.

"In relation to the failure to issue the apology in the form specified, the power for the committee to take further action is really limited under the current law," he said.

"The Government has made it very clear that they are intending to change the code of conduct regime, so that it is stronger, and there are powers going forward to take further action, as was the case before the Localism Act, to withhold allowances or suspend councillors from sitting.

"Those powers don't exist. The sanctions that have been imposed are the maximum that the committee could have imposed under the current law."

Councillor Jonathan Croft said he served as vice-chairman of the armed forces governing board at the same time as Councillor Brackenridge was the chairman.

"I've had quite a lot of feedback of the disquiet that was caused, and felt among the armed forces veterans and those who served. I deeply respect the service they have given, and I'm still concerned about the fall-out and what happened from this." 

On July 29 a panel, made up of three Labour councillors and one Conservative, upheld the findings of an independent investigation which found Councillor Brackenridge had shown disrespect to the public, used his position to improperly gain political advantage, and brought both his role and the council into disrepute. He was further found to have breached the code by failing to co-operate with the investigation.

A member of the council since 2014, the former firefighter is Labour member for Wednesfield South.

He served as chairman of West Midlands Fire Authority until October last year when he resigned in the wake of the  'stolen valour' allegations. He also resigned from his post as chairman of Wolverhampton's armed forces covenant board.

One of the allegations related to an election leaflet in which Councillor Brackenridge referred to 'my previous professional careers, firstly with the Royal Marines, and then as a local firefighter'.

In September 2021, during his term as mayor, he unveiled the Saraghari Memorial memorial to Sikh soldiers in Wednesfield, saying: "I served as a Royal Marine myself when I left my school and I worked with members of the Sikh community in the armed forces, and people from all around the world - the Nepalese and the Gurkhas."   

He was also pictured wearing a Royal Marines tie. But it later emerged that while he did some Commando training after leaving school, he never completed this and was therefore not entitled to describe himself as a former Royal Marine.