Newport Councillor Janet Cleverly Reprimanded for 'Speak English' Comment
Summary
Independent councillor Janet Cleverly of Newport City Council's Bettws ward has been reprimanded and ordered to complete additional training after telling a council call handler to 'speak English' during a phone call about a fly-tipping incident. An ombudsman investigation described the comments as 'derogatory and humiliating' and 'not what is expected of an elected member', with a council monitoring officer finding them to be 'consciously or otherwise, racially motivated' and 'discriminatory'. The council standards committee found Cleverly breached three areas of the member code of conduct relating to equality, respect, consideration of others, and disreputable conduct.
“A council monitoring officer said he considered the call handler's English to be fluent and Cleverly's comments to be "consciously or otherwise, racially motivated" and "discriminatory".”
About this source
The Inner Temple Library is one of the four Inns of Court library services in London. Their Current Awareness blog is staffed by professional law librarians who scan the day's English legal news, court judgments, regulatory updates, parliamentary questions, and academic commentary, and post short summaries with links to the source. Around 185 posts a month. The blog has been the standard daily-read for English barristers, solicitors, and law librarians for over a decade because of the editorial filtering: the librarians read more than any practitioner could, and they post only what matters. Watch this if you practice English law, manage a UK firm's research team, or want a curated daily feed of UK legal and regulatory news.
What changed
The Newport City Council standards committee issued a formal reprimand against Independent councillor Janet Cleverly after she made 'speak English' comments to a council call handler during a routine call about a fly-tipping incident. The ombudsman's investigation found the comments were 'derogatory and humiliating' and that Cleverly had breached three areas of the council's member code of conduct covering equality, respect, consideration of others, and disreputable conduct. Cleverly apologised to the committee, stating she was 'mortified' by her actions.
Elected officials in local authorities should note that code of conduct breaches related to discriminatory or harassing language — even in informal interactions — can result in formal reprimands and mandatory training requirements. The council's monitoring officer found the call handler's English to be fluent, underscoring that comments questioning a person's language ability based on accent or ethnicity may constitute racial discrimination under member codes of conduct.
Archived snapshot
Apr 27, 2026GovPing captured this document from the original source. If the source has since changed or been removed, this is the text as it existed at that time.
LDRS
Newport council monitoring officer said he considered the call handler's English to be fluent
Nicholas Thomas Local Democracy Reporting Service
26 April 2026
A councillor who told a council call handler to "speak English" has been reprimanded and must complete extra training.
Independent councillor Janet Cleverly made the comments when she was reporting a fly-tipping incident to Newport City Council.
An ombudsman's investigation described the Bettws ward councillor's comments as "derogatory and humiliating" and "not what is expected of an elected member".
Cleverly apologised and told a council standards committee she was "mortified" by her actions.
During the phone conversation, the call handler tried to tell the councillor about "disruptive sounds" on the line and asked her to repeat certain information.
According to the ombudsman's report, Cleverly then interrupted the call handler and said: "I'm sorry, can I speak to somebody who's speaking English?"
A few minutes later, the call handler was clarifying details when Cleverly said: "Sorry? I can't understand anything you're saying. Speak English."
Cleverly emailed the council's cabinet member responsible for environmental matters later that day in which she wrote: "I am all for equal opportunity but this person took all my information wrong after I had to repeat everything 3-4 times and spell everything lots of times."
A manager in the customer services team listened to the recorded call and flagged concerns about the councillor's "unnecessary" tone, prompting a probe.
A council monitoring officer said he considered the call handler's English to be fluent and Cleverly's comments to be "consciously or otherwise, racially motivated" and "discriminatory".
'Lots of BME friends'
According to the report, the call handler was "very emotional and upset" about the incident, but went on to withdraw from the investigation.
Cleverly later told the ombudsman's office she had "worked in BME communities" - black and minority ethnic - in her career as a youth and community worker and had "lots of BME friends".
She described the call as a "really bad line" and apologised if she had upset the call handler as it was "not my intention".
Parts of Thursday's committee hearing took place in private to protect the identity of the call handler, who was not present.
"I was absolutely mortified by my actions that day," Cleverly told the panel.
The committee found Cleverly had breached three areas of the council's code for members relating to equality, respect and consideration of others, and disreputable conduct.
Related topics
More top stories
Parties
Related changes
Get daily alerts for Inner Temple Library Current Awareness
Daily digest delivered to your inbox.
Free. Unsubscribe anytime.
About this page
Every important government, regulator, and court update from around the world. One place. Real-time. Free. Our mission
Source document text, dates, docket IDs, and authority are extracted directly from BBC.
The summary, classification, recommended actions, deadlines, and penalty information are AI-generated from the original text and may contain errors. Always verify against the source document.
Classification
Who this affects
Taxonomy
Browse Categories
Get alerts for this source
We'll email you when Inner Temple Library Current Awareness publishes new changes.
Subscribed!
Optional. Filters your digest to exactly the updates that matter to you.