Bristol Lib Dems: Councillors deny 'fraudulent' actions over cheque

Two ex-Liberal Democrat councillors have denied they acted fraudulently by paying for leaflets announcing their resignation using party funds.

Gary Hopkins and Christopher Davies quit as Liberal Democrat members of Bristol City Council last month and formed a new party.

The pair are accused of using a cheque from local funds for £505 to pay for the leaflets.

The two men have described claims of fraud as "wild" and "petulant".

BBC Radio Bristol has seen evidence the pair, who formed the Knowle Community Party after leaving the Lib Dems, ordered 5,500 leaflets using a cheque which had the name Knowle Liberal Democrats as the account holder.

The following day they both left the party and distributed the leaflets, which contained a news item announcing the formation of the Knowle Community Party.

Mr Hopkins is a former Lib Dem group leader and Mr Davies was once Bristol's Lord Mayor.

The Bristol Liberal Democrats tried to cancel the cheque, and wrote to the two men claiming their actions amount to fraud.

In the letter, seen by the BBC, the Liberal Democrats demanded the remaining money in the account, believed to be several thousand pounds, was returned.

The party said local ward bank accounts were still governed by it, and the money in them belongs to it.

In a statement, the Knowle Community Party said the leaflets also contained lots of information for local residents about community issues in the area.

It described the Lib Dems of making "wild allegations".

"The Knowle Branch functions independently," continued the statement.

"Every penny in the account has been raised or donated locally and has been donated to promote local work by ourselves."

The statement goes on to say the reason the two councillors left the Lib Dems was because of "financial mismanagement" - namely the party running up large debts during the 2015 general election.