Illsley to resign ‘before next court appearance’

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Disgraced MP Eric Illsley has announced that he will resign before his next court appearance, after yesterday pleading guilty to three counts of false accounting. In a statement this afternoon Illsley said:

“I would like to apologise to my constituents, family and friends, following my court appearance, for the distress and embarrassment caused by my actions that I deeply, deeply regret. I have begun to wind down my parliamentary office, following which I will resign from Parliament before my next court appearance. I will be making no further comment.”

Once Illsley has resigned a by-election will be called for his Barnsley Central seat – we’ll bring you more on this as we have it.