Rebecca Smith MP has held onto her councillor role after a motion calling for her to resign has been overwhelmingly rejected.
Independent Plympton Erle councillor Terri Beer brought the motion raising her concerns that Cllr Smith could not give full attention to her ward while serving as an MP in London for much of the week.
Cllr Beer argued that residents deserved clear information about her attendance record and the fact she receives both a parliamentary salary and a councillor allowance while most casework is handled by her parliamentary team.
Conservative and Labour councillors defended Cllr Smith. Conservative group leader councillor Andy Lugger said UK law allows MPs to serve as councillors and stressed that if there were concerns about double jobbing they could have been raised at the general election.
Labour councillor Sue Dann said the value of a councillor could not be reduced to the number of times they sit in the council chamber and asked why a member should step down if they had not broken the code of conduct or the council constitution.
Cllr Smith confirmed that she hasn't received any calls from her Plymstock constituents to resign and said she was saddened that the chamber was being used as a ‘kangaroo court’.
She said the hard graft of council work often happens behind the scenes and cited her work to secure zebra crossings, protect post office services and spend her community grant and living streets funds in the ward.
She said most of her casework now comes to her as an MP which is why her staff handle it, but she insisted she still represents Plymstock Radford.
Between 2018 and 2024 she said her attendance averaged 84 per cent and reached 100 per cent in one year while she juggled other jobs.
Her recent absences were put down to commitments on the assisted dying bill in Parliament, a royal engagement with the Duchess of Edinburgh and travel back from a wedding.
Cllr Smith has repeated her intention to stand down from Plymouth City Council at the local elections in May 2026 saying this will avoid the cost of a by election and pledging to donate her councillor allowance to charity until then.
Sign up for free below to get notified with all the latest breaking news from Plymouth Plus.
