A LEADING Wrexham councillor says he has been left feeling ‘hurt’ after his performance was slammed by the Labour Party in a scathing Facebook post.

A series of comments about Wrexham Council’s lead member for education Phil Wynn were published on the ‘Labour for Wrexham’ Facebook page.

In the post, members of the Wrexham Constituency Labour Party (CLP) who run the account highlighted the number of secondary schools placed in special measures since he was appointed.

They also criticised the independent politician for having no teaching experience and described his record as “totally unacceptable”.

They said: “On his watch we have seen no less than four high schools go into special measures; two schools are also  needing urgent improvement.

“Cllr Wynn has never taught in a school and earns £30,000 yet is in charge of your children’s education.

“This is utterly unacceptable. Our Tory and independent councillors are failing our children.”

The Leader:

Wrexham's former Conservative parliamentary candidate Andrew Atkinson slammed members of the CLP for the personal nature of the remarks. Source: Facebook

The post has since been edited to remove any personal reference to Cllr Wynn, but he has spoken out about the upset it caused him.

The former Liberal Democrat has also written to Wrexham’s MP Ian Lucas and AM Lesley Griffiths to ask if they support the remarks.

It comes as the CLP is listed on its Facebook page as being based in the same building as their constituency offices in Rhosddu.

However, staff working for the two politicians said the local party organisation had relocated and neither of them were involved in writing the post.

Cllr Wynn said: “I am aware of the post on the Labour for Wrexham Facebook page, which if intended to cause hurt has succeeded.

“I have emailed Ian Lucas and Lesley Griffiths asking for confirmation as to whether the post has their personal support, as the Facebook group operates from their Rhosddu office.

“Whilst awaiting their reply I will reflect on the content of their post.”

One of Cllr Wynn’s executive board colleagues has jumped to his defence in the wake of the social media criticism.

Wrexham’s former Conservative parliamentary candidate Andrew Atkinson also slammed the opposition party for the personal nature of the remarks.

Commenting underneath the post, the council’s youth services and anti-poverty lead said: “This is a very personal and nasty attack on Phil Wynn and I hope you’ll reconsider this approach to local government.

“You state that Phil has no background in education, can you please set out below which current Labour councillors would take which lead member roles if you had control of the council?

“Can you also please explain their backgrounds with particular regard to which councillor would take the education brief?”

Plaid Cymru’s Marc Jones also drew attention to the fact Labour councillors voted in support of the ruling administration’s latest annual budget.

When approached for comment, the chair of Wrexham’s CLP said it stood by the statement.

Andrew Ranger said: “Cllr Wynn is an elected politician, a member of the council executive board and a lead member.

“He is therefore accountable to the public he is elected to serve and as a lead member he is accountable for the delivery of the public services under his remit.

“The criticisms made were not done so personally but in his professional capacity as a politician and the person responsible for education services in Wrexham.

“It is a matter of record how poor Wrexham Council’s education performance has been over many years.”