UK's youngest elected councillor announces resignation from Peterborough City Council
Peterborough’s youngest ever councillor has announced her resignation from the authority.
On Friday (May 29), Daisy Blakemore-Creedon, representative for Fletton and Woodston, announced that she was stepping down from the council as it was ‘the best thing she could do for residents.’
Blakemore-Creedon was just 18, and a week away from sitting her A-Levels, when she unseated Conservative councillor Andy Coles in the ward, while a member of the Labour party in May 2024.
In the process, she became the authority’s youngest ever councillor and one of the youngest in the country.
She had represented her ward as an independent ever since.
In a statement, Blakemore-Creedon said that she ‘never truly felt comfortable within the council’ nor being within a system ‘I do not believe always acts with the best intentions.’
She said: “I am resigning from Peterborough City Council because this is the best thing I could do for residents.
“A year into being a councillor, I wrote an article for Labour List stating: “I was young, passionate, and unashamedly ambitious—not for power, but for change. On polling day, I became the youngest councillor in the UK, winning by a landslide. That should have been the start of something empowering but what followed was a sharp lesson in how politics still treats young women who step into the spotlight.”
“To this day, that could not feel more true. As much as I have enjoyed supporting residents and trying to help people get the support they need, I have not always been able to do this effectively because I have never truly felt comfortable within the council or within a system that I do not believe always acts with the best intentions.
“Over time, I have witnessed a culture where power can too easily go unchecked, where protecting reputations can take priority over accountability, and where difficult issues are too often quietly managed rather than openly addressed. I cannot continue to be part of a system where I feel there are systemic cover-ups, a lack of transparency, and an environment that too often discourages people from speaking honestly when something is wrong.
“This decision has not been easy, because I care deeply about residents and about public service, however, I believe stepping away is the most honest and responsible thing I can do.”
Since December, all three of the Fletton and Woodston ward councillors have vacated their roles.
Labour’s Nick Thulbourn and Alan Dowson sadly passed away in December and January respectively.
A by-election is set to follow.