Today we learn that Cornwall councillor and 2015 General Election prospective Labour parliamentary candidate for the Truro and Falmouth constituency, Hanna Toms, has resigned her candidacy. She has admitted that she took the decision to stand down after being told she had to repay falsely accrued welfare benefits. Whilst admitting that she was in receipt of housing and related benefits that she was not entitled to, she said that it was a “benefits mistake” and that she has now paid all the money back.
Ms Toms has also resigned as leader of the Labour group at Cornwall Council, although she still remains Cornwall Council member for Falmouth Penwerris. Tim Dwelly, who took over as Labour group leader at Cornwall Council, said that Ms Tom had “done the honourable thing”.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) would not comment on whether or not it was currently investigating Ms Toms.
Ms Toms web page on the Labour Party website has been removed. Although the Google search link was still available at the time of writing this post, resulting in a ‘Page not found’ error :
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Hanna Toms – The Labour Party
www.labour.org.uk/people/detail/hanna–toms Born and brought up in Cornwall, my family has a long history of political activism . My education at The Roseland School and St Austell College enabled me to …