Statement from Lib Dem Group on David Parsons’s resignation

After more than 150 days of pressure and questions about his suitability to lead, the Liberal Democrat group are pleased David Parsons has resigned the leadership of the County Council.

Throughout this whole saga we have consistently maintained that Mr Parsons should resign and we are greatly relieved that that he has at last decided to go. In our view this should have happened sooner after all it is only six weeks since the Council held an extraordinary meeting to urge him to take this action.

This is a welcome opportunity to move on from this seemingly endless saga and focus on the real issues facing Leicestershire notably large scale cuts to services.

Simon Galton, Leader of the Lib Dem group said: "Needless to say that the debacle surrounding Mr Parsons has been a massive distraction that has damaged the reputation of the Council. We have always said that he should do the honourable thing and resign, and the almost daily stream of new revelations about his conduct and attitude made yesterday's announcement inevitable - perhaps the only thing that prevented a sooner departure is his pride and arrogance which has characterised his leadership of Leicestershire for almost a decade."