'Council leader Keith Aspden should resign over payout'

Matters like these are very serious indeed - allegations of bullying and victimisation by the council leader after a suspension in 2017 over undisclosed serious allegations, and then in 2019 he gets named in an employment tribunal. Now it is out in the public domain at last.

Just as serious is the misuse of taxpayers’ money that the auditors, Mazers, have made known - to the tune of nearly £118,000 being paid that didn’t have to be. Without their issuing a Public Interest Report to make all this open to the public’s attention you can be sure it would have all been kept secret, again.

This is a huge stain on the City of York. Cllr Aspden’s position is now totally untenable and he should resign forthwith!

I’m not holding my breath.

Peter Boulton, Orchard Gardens, York

This is not a witch hunt - it’s about standards

I’m sure it has been an uncomfortable few weeks for local Lib Dems – and their Green coalition partners – but how disappointing to read Cllr Ayre, Cllr Smalley and now Cllr Hook’s attempts to deflect, diminish and undermine the independent findings of the External Auditors’ Public Interest Report (Call for council leader Keith Aspden to resign, April 20).

We should all be troubled when an independent body suggests the £400k payout to the former Chief Executive was linked to accusations of bullying and may have been ‘unlawful’. More so when they say the leader ‘prioritised political interests over the need for propriety in the use of public funds’.

Sometimes in politics it is not about the Lib Dems, Greens or Labour. Sometimes in life, we have to stand up and be counted.

This isn’t about a political witch-hunt. It’s about standards in public office - about basic decency and knowing right from wrong.

There are decent people amongst the local Lib Dems. Don’t let the council leader’s actions destroy what little trust is left in politics.

Cllr Jonny Crawshaw Wentworth Road, York