THE family of a recently deceased councillor have slammed a campaign leaflet appearing to blame him for tax payer funds being used on a by-election.

Julian Ware-Lane, Southend Labour councillor for the Milton ward, passed away in January.

And now a conservative campaign leaflet has been circulated stating the council will now have to fund a by-election with money “which could have been spent on tackling anti-social behaviour, policing or roads”.

Conservative leader, John Lamb, insisted no disrespect was intended, but the leaflet factually accurate.

While Mr Ware-Lane’s daughter, Hope, 21, felt it was hugely insensitive.

Elections will also be held in May, and if no by-electin was called, the seat would have been contested then.

Hope said: “A lot of the family are very angry at this, some of them live in the Milton Ward, so have had this put through their doors.

“We have had a lot of support on social media, and most people do tend to agree it is insensitive - it is funny, after my sister posted it, councillor Tony Cox got in touch to say he raised concerns before it was published.

“Quite simply, it is political point scoring, which is very frustrating, because dad was very well respected across all political parties.

“There were just as many Tories at his funeral as Labour councillors, and we thought that was a testament to his character and not his politics, and then we see his name used in this way.

“He was a very giving man, he sacrificed his time constantly and was never focused on money, he never claimed as much as he could.

“He will be turning in his grave to see his name linked to money in this way and costing the council funds.”

As a mark of respect, independents have stated they will not put a candidate up in the ward - although Mr Lamb said this goes against the “democratic process”.

He said: “No disrespect was intended at all with this leaflet, but it is a fact that this by election is costing the council funds that could have been spent elsewhere.

“We did not push for this election to take place, but it has been called by two residents, and holding an election does incur additional costs.

“I would totally refute that it misaligned Julian in any way, and it is nothing to do with poor Julian, it is just a sad fact that he has passed away and now an election must be held, but it could have been any councillor in any ward.

“There is the option of not putting anyone forward, but that goes against the democratic process.

“An election has been called, and we must have candidates in place for the residents to consider.”

The by-election will take place on March 21.

Mr Ware-Lane’s was not due to re-election until 2020 and the person elected to take over from him will serve the rest of his term.