AM advised to ‘lie low’ after assault claim
Friday 12th February 2010, 10:44AM GMT.
A Mid Wales politician today said that he failed to attend the emergency meeting on schools as he had been advised to “lie low” following the allegations he assaulted a paramedic.
Montgomeryshire AM Mick Bates apologised for his absence at yesterday’s emergency debate.
He said that he wanted the focus of the meeting to be on the future of the schools and not about the allegations made about him.
Mr Bates, from Llanfair Caereinion, has been accused of assaulting a paramedic on a drunken night out in Cardiff.
He has been relieved of frontbench duties at the Welsh Assembly and suspended as a scrutiny committee chairman.
Mr Bates said: “The reason why I didn’t attend the education debate is because I want the issue to be about schools and not Mick Bates.
He added: “I’ve kept away from public engagements because everything will be centred around my behaviour and the allegations and I don’t want that to happen.”
He added that he had been concentrating on his case work and helping his wife organise a charity lunch event.
Among those who criticised Mr Bates’s absence from yesterday’s meeting was the Tory spokesman for Montgomeryshire and former AM Glyn Davies.
He said he believed Assembly Members should have been at the meeting because the education review was a Government issue.
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