THE Conservative campaign to get a Sheffield Tory elected to Parliament has suffered a set-back after one of the party's strongest candidates was expelled as a town councillor.
Daniel Gage, one of five Tories on Dronfield Town Council, has been disqualified after failing to attend a single council meeting in the last six months.
Mr Gage, aged 24, said he is 'heartbroken' to have been kicked off the council just days befo
re he was due to launch his campaign to be elected as MP for Sheffield Hallam.
Council clerk Roy Hunt wrote to Mr Gage telling him he had been automatically disqualified for failing to attend meetings without a valid reason.
Mr Hunt told The Star: "As his last attendance at a council meeting was six months ago, according to the 1972 Local Government Act he has been automatically disqualified. He has no right of appeal."
Mr Gage, a barman and son of former Sheffield United full-back Kevin Gage, was announced last week as Tory candidate to challenge Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg for his Hallam seat.
"I am gutted, completely heartbroken," he told The Star. "This has been a massive misunderstanding, an administrative error.
"Even though I haven't attended official council meetings I was under the impression that the 17 or 18 public meetings I attended as a councillor counted. I'm not going to lie - this is obviously not the best timing.
"I have worked really hard for my ward and have been a very good councillor. I was the first on Dronfield Council to raise concerns about the Sheepbridge incinerator, and am already working with businesses and residents in Hallam."
Mr Gage is due to resign from his job at The Devonshire Arms pub in Dore this month to campaign full-time in the run-up to the general election.
Sheffield Conservatives announced last Saturday their list of candidates who will stand for Parliament at the next election, which will take place before June next year.
Alongside Mr Gage, John Sharp will stand in Brightside, Andrew Lee in Sheffield Central, Anne Crampton in Heeley, and Nigel Bonson in Sheffield South East.
They will join Spencer Pitfield, who has been campaigning for months to oust Angela Smith in Stocksbridge and Penistone.
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