South Tyneside councillor rapped over rule-breaking and disrespectful emails about MP

The primary complaint dated back to February 15, 2022, and was linked to Cllr Gibson’s correspondence relating to Ms Lewell and her friends and family, which was disclosed to the Labour MP following an earlier ‘subject access request’ made to the council.

The MP alleged Cllr Gibson’s behaviour formed part of a “coordinated campaign”, which included “bullying”, as well as “discussing and coordinating party politics” using an official council email and “organising against [her]”.

The complaint alleged that Cllr Gibson’s behaviour was “wholly inappropriate” and focused on “personal matters” that were “very upsetting”, and also referenced the councillor making requests for information about the South Shields MP to two council officers via email.

There was also a second complaint made against Cllr Gibson where he was alleged to have made a phone call on a public bus referencing the confidential MP’s complaint and allegedly talking about an intention to “delete contemporaneous evidence”, as described in an investigation report.

Council documents stated a member of the public witnessed the alleged phone conversation and took written notes before reporting the matter to the MP’s then constituency office manager Ann Best, also a Labour councillor at the time, who subsequently lodged an official complaint with the council.

Cllr Gibson, in a written response to final reports from an external investigator in April, 2025, confirmed he was on the bus but said the “allegation about deleted emails is fantasy”, with a later investigation of council IT services finding no evidence of Cllr Gibson deleting emails.

The Labour councillor, who is also the council’s cabinet member for neighbourhoods and climate change, “disputed and denied all the allegations made against him”, adding the investigating officer’s conclusions were “based on misinformation” and noting several issues had already been investigated by the Labour Party with no further action taken.

Cllr Gibson also suggested the MP’s complaint was “political in motivation” as it involved matters “related to Labour Party business” and criticised the council for allowing a “law firm to pass judgement on political matters which is outside of their remit and that of [the council].”

South Tyneside Council commissioned an external legal firm to investigate both complaints against Cllr Gibson, with investigating officer Alex Paterson producing a number of findings and recommendations in a written report.

It was noted that much of the behaviour complained of fell against the backdrop of a re-selection process for the South Shields parliamentary constituency in advance of the 2019 General Election, with several instances referenced of Cllr Gibson “campaigning against [Ms Lewell]”, including reference to a local miners welfare event.

Cllr Gibson, in a statement provided in response to the investigation reports, maintained that Ms Lewell was “undergoing a selection process which the Labour Party encourages participation [in].”

Cllr Gibson’s emails included in the complaint were originally sent to third parties and were only seen by the complainant as the result of a subject access request.

Ms Lewell, in an interview statement as part of the investigation, said she had made a number of other subject access requests to the council in the past but had received either “completely black, redacted sheets of paper […] or missing information.”

When looking at the South Shields MP’s complaint, the investigating officer found there was “sufficient evidence” that Cllr Gibson breached South Tyneside Council’s code of conduct around treating others with “respect and decency”.

Although the investigating officer did not find evidence of harassment or a factual finding of “unlawful discrimination”, he found Cllr Gibson’s conduct on balance “did constitute bullying in breach of the code”, and said several emails disclosed to the complainant via the subject access request were “offensive, malicious and insulting”.

The external investigator also said that in “coordinating against the complainant” in his capacity as a councillor, Cllr Gibson’s conduct “merged party politics with his role as a councillor” and demonstrated an “improper use of his position, to the disadvantage of the complainant”.

On the second complaint linked to Cllr Gibson’s alleged phone call on a bus, the investigating officer said the complaint was “genuinely-held and made on sufficient evidential grounds” and that the alleged conduct had breached several parts of the council’s code of conduct, including bringing the council, or the role as councillor, “into disrepute.”

A formal Standards Committee hearing was held at South Shields Town Hall on Monday (August 4, 2025) to probe the investigating officer’s report into the complaints and to consider sanctions.

Although Cllr Gibson originally indicated he would attend the meeting to provide new evidence, as well as bringing four witnesses, a “final response” included in committee papers published ahead of the meeting said he was unable to attend due to “health issues”.

Although Cllr Gibson requested the matter to be “placed on hold” until his health improves, this request was refused by the independent chair of the Standards Committee, Professor Grahame Wright.

However, the independent chair said Cllr Gibson had been “invited to consider nominating a friend to speak (and ask questions) on his behalf, and this was suggested should the subject member feel that attendance is not in his best interests.”

Several councillors on the standards panel questioned the investigating officer Alex Paterson, who attended Monday’s meeting via videolink, and there were queries about the evidence linked to the complaints, redactions to documents, the wider political context of the complaints, the approach to “informal resolution” and other matters.

Several questions from the committee focused on procedural matters linked to the investigation, including a decision to anonymize the identity of the witness on the bus, along with questions about why the Standards Committee were not presented with unredacted evidence, despite the investigating officer telling the panel the redacted material was “not directly relevant” to the findings of his report.

Councillor John Robertson raised concerns about redactions and said the committee was “blind to what’s gone on here”, while councillor Angela Lamonte said she felt the committee “hasn’t had all the evidence because of the redactions.”

The independent chair of the meeting Professor Grahame Wright said there had been assurances that the material the investigating officer had seen, that the Standards Committee hadn’t seen, did not have relevance to specific allegations against Cllr Gibson.

Following a day of debate and lengthy private deliberations, the verdict of the Standards Committee was delivered in an official decision notice.

The committee “noted that it was not disputed that the emails were sent by Cllr Gibson using his councillor email account which is a council resource” and did not uphold complaints about some emails.

However, the Standards Committee flagged two specific emails from 2019 and ruled, by either unanimous or majority votes, that Cllr Gibson “did act in breach” of the part of the council’s code of conduct around “treating others with respect”.

One of the emails discussed Ms Lewell’s “fitness” to adopt children, while the second email referred to the South Shields MP as “a woman who betrayed Corbyn three times” and said “she needs motioned off Labour Group”.

Elsewhere, the committee did not find any breaches of the code of conduct around “respecting the role that officers play”, bullying, harassment, “failing to promote equalities / discrimination” and “compromising or attempting to compromise the impartiality of officers”, mainly on evidential grounds.

The Standards Committee agreed that Cllr Gibson, in sending the two mentioned emails from his councillor email account and the “intentions behind the emails”, was “using or attempting to use position improperly”.

It was ruled that Cllr Gibson “should not have used his council email account to send the emails relied upon, and in doing so, he did misuse council resources”.

The Standards Committee also said the listed breaches of the code of conduct “did bring the council and [Cllr Gibson’s] office as a councillor into disrepute to some degree”.

The Standards Committee decision notice noted Cllr Gibson was in a leadership role within the council and had “apologised for some of the conduct found to have been in breach of the members code of conduct”.

It was also noted that “the conduct complained of took place several years ago, only coming to light in response to a subject access request which was made some time afterwards”.

The Standards Committee’s agreed sanctions included issuing a “formal censure” in writing to Cllr Gibson, and the decision of the committee being referred to a full council meeting for information only.

Cllr Gibson will also be required to “complete mandatory training in the areas of conduct and behaviour.”

The second complaint linked to Cllr Gibson’s alleged phone call on the bus was also completely thrown out, with a decision notice stating that “the committeewas not persuaded that any elements of this complaint are made out on the evidence”.

The decision notice said the witness “chose to type what it is he claimed he heard Cllr Gibson say, instead of simply recording it on his mobile phone”, did not submit the complaint himself and that there was a “possibility that the witness was at least an acquaintance, or possibly a friend of the complainant.”

South Shields MP, Emma Lewell, who attended the Standards Committee, spoke out following the decision and said the panel discussed “everything around” the investigating officer’s report, rather than the report itself.

“In that report, Cllr Ernest Gibson was found to have breached the members’ code of conduct, brought the council into disrepute, behaved contrary to the standards expected in public life, was found to have not treated me with respect or decency, does not respect the role of council officers, and is a bully who created an ‘intimidating, hostile, degrading and humiliating environment’ for me and organised against me on a ‘long-standing [and] deep-seated level of contempt’ for me,” Ms Lewell said.

The South Shields MP added she was “not surprised” that South Tyneside Council’s Standards Committee had “completely ignored that report and made findings quite contrary to it.”

The Standards Committee’s hearing papers and decision reports are available to view via South Tyneside Council’s website.