Kevin Guy, the Liberal Democrat leader of Bath and North East Somerset council, has plunged himself into fresh controversy after registering hospitality as deputy mayor of the West of England Combined Authority (Weca) days after his term had ended in May.
Guy (pictured above), 46, was paid £19,300 to act as the authority’s deputy mayor for the year to last May, a statutory appointment that former Labour mayor Dan Norris had refused to make during his time in office that was cut short by his arrest in April 2025.
Cllr Guy recorded two engagements in his register of gifts and hospitality on the Weca website. One was for attending Bath Rugby vs the Newcastle Red Bulls on May 16 in the owner’s box, courtesy of chief executive Tarquin Macdonald, a gift valued at £500 for two.
Crucially, Cllr Guy stated: “Attended as WECA representative for MCA [mayoral combined authority].”
However, according to the register of gifts and hospitality for Helen Godwin, the authority’s mayor, she was also present with another guest at the very same match on May 16 for the purposes of “stakeholder engagement” with a value of £499.
The fact that Cllr Guy chose to suggest he was the representative of Weca when the mayor was also present strikes an odd chord. Cllr Guy could, presumably, have attended as leader of Banes council and declared the hospitality on the council register.
Cllr Guy’s office said in a response to a Freedom of Information request about his duties as deputy mayor: “The Bath rugby event was just outside Kevin’s term as deputy mayor (during transition) but he did attend, so this was declared on the hospitality register. Again, there were no travel/accommodation costs for this as it was local.”
Cllr Guy’s successor as deputy mayor, Tony Dyer, the Green leader of Bristol city council, was appointed on May 13. Weca minutes say that Cllr Guy was appointed for the municipal year 2025/26.
There has already been concern about how little council leaders have to do when they are appointed as deputy Weca mayor.
An analysis of Cllr Guy’s commitments during his deputy mayoralty – excluding those he would have attended anyway as the £55,827-a-year Banes leader – showed that he would not have spent more than 20 hours as deputy in a whole year.
His engagements included attending the Massed Bands of the Royal Marines at the Bristol Beacon and a tourism cocktail reception at 10 Downing Street that required an overnight stay in London for Guy.
Cllr Guy is no stranger to controversy. Recently the one-time Labour councillor in Telford, Shropshire, sent an email warning that political opponents “were trying to spread misinformation and attack the administration” to Liberal Democrats including Lord Strasburger, who bankrolls the party, according to Somerset Live.
Unfortunately, Cllr Guy also sent the email, which reacted to criticism about the heavily-opposed construction of a cycle path through Royal Victoria Park, to all Banes councillors.
Weca’s audit committee has been asked to explain Cllr Guy’s register of gifts and hospitality, which also included two tickets to The Mountbatten Festival of Music & drinks reception at the Royal Albert Hall to the value of £140.
Cllr Guy’s office said: “Kevin did not actually attend the event at the Royal Albert hall due to a last minute change in personal circumstances – there were no charges incurred as no travel or accommodation was booked. The tickets were still declared as they were received, however a cabinet member attended to represent Kevin. This cabinet member was already in London, so again no cost was incurred.”
The cabinet member was not named and it is not known if they declared the hospitality separately.
