Hapless Hadleigh Together political party has been criticised for snubbing local printers to have leaflets printed 320 miles away in Cramlington, Northumberland.

The party, which claims to speak for Hadleigh people, has used the firm based in a town nine miles north of Newcastle on Tyne to have all their election material printed, and then delivered to Suffolk.

Party leader Richard Hinton has refused to say why at least three commercial printers local to Hadleigh, BGA Print, Keith Avis Printers and Stuart Morris in Crockatt Rd, were not used, while printed.com in Cramlington was given the Suffolk town's political group's business..

Readers, including Steven Wright, contacted Nub News to point out the questionable leaflets. Mr Wright said: "This lot are a shambles and in my opinion a bunch of hypocrites. Why are they using a printer so far away? It seems to me nothing they say stands up to any sort of scrutiny and they look to be in it for themselves rather than the Hadleigh community.

"Could you please ask them why they have not used a local printer, and why they want to cover things up so much?"

The imprint of all election material, has to name the promoter and printer and any false information would be contrary to election law

Although Frank Minns is named as the promoter he was not responsible for the choice of printer which was first used by Hadleigh Together in May 2019, when it stood on a platform of openness and transparency, and were used in a by election, with Hinton responsible.

Nub news has contacted Hinton, but he has failed to respond.

Hinton, along with fellow Hadleigh Together councillor James Bayliss, has also refused to comment or apologise after a Code of Conduct complaint made against both of them was upheld by Babergh's monitoring officer. There were also calls for them to resign but they have refused to show contrition or stand down. Full story here.

Similarly, calls for councillors Carol Schleip and Frank Minns, both Hadleigh Together political party members, to resign have been rejected by the pair. Schleip admitted being prejudiced against armed forced personnel during the interview process to employ a £48,700 a year town council manager, and Minns was accused of covering up the matter by refusing to allow an an investigation and misleading the public with his reasons why the staffing sub committee was dissolved. Full story here

It has been confirmed by the monitoring officer that the town council could have held an investigation into the comments, contrary to the mayor and councillor Rolf Beggerow's claims.

The staffing sub committee was dissolved, following a motion placed on the town council meeting on Friday, April 12, and ratified on Thursday, April 18, with councillor Angela Gregg's resignation accepted on April 16.

Hadleigh Together has been plagued with resignations and issues since it was formed in 2019 with more than half of its original members resigning or leaving, and its current members criticised for failing to be open and transparent. Full story here...

Leader Hinton has been constantly asked by Nub News to comment or defend his and his party's actions but has failed to respond.

The party has its own private Facebook page, which does not allow public comments and has used the Community Noticeboard magazine to promote its candidates.