Debate over Lib Dem councillor convictions raises questions in Stockport.
6th September 2025
LibDem Executive Councillor John Smith
LibDem Executive Councillor Neal Derbyshire.
Local MP Lisa Smart has spoken powerfully in Parliament about the need to put victims and survivors of child sexual abuse at the heart of policy-making. Earlier this year, she told MPs that “no child should ever endure sexual exploitation or abuse” and urged the government to publish a clear timetable for implementing the recommendations of the landmark Jay Inquiry into child sexual exploitation.
Smart also backed a new “duty of candour”—similar to measures introduced after the Hillsborough disaster—to ensure that institutions are transparent and accountable in their handling of such cases.
Now, campaigners in Stockport are asking whether these same principles should also apply closer to home, after cases involving former Liberal Democrat councillors convicted of child sexual offences.
Calls for Consistency
Some residents argue that if national politicians are to lead on issues of accountability, they must also set the tone locally.
“Lisa has been right to call for openness and justice in Parliament,” said one Romiley resident who has followed the debates. “But the public also needs to see those values upheld when abuse has been linked to political figures in her own party here in Stockport.”
Local campaigners have urged Smart to use her platform to support survivors, press for transparency in council processes, and ensure political parties take swift disciplinary action whenever allegations emerge.
Smart’s Parliamentary Record
In April, Smart said in the Commons that victims and survivors “must be at the centre of our thoughts … we owe it to them not just to offer words of support but to deliver justice and bring offenders to account.”
Critics now say that those words should resonate just as strongly in Romiley, Marple, and across Stockport, not only in Westminster debates.
A Wider Debate on Trust in Politics
The issue feeds into a broader national discussion about trust in local and national institutions handling abuse cases. The Jay Inquiry revealed decades of systemic failings across police, councils, and political parties.
For many in Stockport, the question remains: will politicians apply the same standards of candour and accountability when the spotlight falls on their own colleagues?
