Councillor 'appalled and hurt' over cancer remarks
A Labour councillor who is being treated for cancer has said she felt "appalled, hurt and upset" after a Reform councillor told a full council meeting she was unable to represent her constituents effectively.
Carol Hyatt has non-Hodgkin lymphoma and due to her illness City of Wolverhampton Council has given her a dispensation to carry out her duties from home.
At the meeting on Wednesday, councillor Anita Stanley said she did not feel Hyatt's arrangement was "very fair on the residents".
"I'm immunocompromised, I can do everything, but I can't go out because then I'll get sepsis and could die, but I've done my very best still represent my ward," Hyatt told the BBC.
Reform UK and Stanley have been contacted for comment.
During a full council discussion about a proposed extension of Hyatt's dispensation to work from home, Stanley stood up and said: "I do not feel it is very fair on the residents not to have a political representative being able to speak up for them for the period of effectively one whole year.
"It's not fair on taxpayers."
Hyatt said: "The situation is not a party political thing so why would you treat any human being like that when they're fighting cancer and going through treatment?
"I'm really hurt because she hadn't bothered to find out the truth and tell it."
Hyatt attends council meetings virtually due to being immunocompromised.
"I can't turn up in person, I would risk getting neutrophilic septicaemia
"Although I'm expecting to be in full remission there's a possibility I might still have cancer again.
"The extension is usually just automatically agreed on by all the councillors because Wolverhampton is a supportive council," Hyatt said.
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