City of York Council leader Keith Aspden has said Philip Allott “should resign immediately” after he lost a no confidence vote this morning.

Liberal Democrat councillor Darryl Smalley proposed a motion of no confidence in the North Yorkshire police, fire and crime commissioner, which was passed unanimously.

But the panel has no power to remove Mr Allott after he sparked outrage with comments he made at the beginning of this month about the murder of Sarah Everard.

He said in an interview that Ms Everard should not have submitted to her false arrest by serving Met police officer Wayne Couzens, who used his warrant card to falsely arrest her before kidnapping, raping and murdering her.

Mr Allott faced repeated calls for his resignation during the panel meeting this morning (Thursday, October 14).

Hundreds of complaints have been sent to his office while more than 10,000 people have signed a petition calling for his resignation.

But he said in the meeting: “Tensions are running high. If everyone resigned who made a mistake in an interview, nothing would ever get done in the country. I genuinely think I can regain trust.”

Cllr Aspden, who is also vice chair of the panel, said afterwards: “As a panel in charge of scrutinising the commissioner’s work and performance, it was crucial that we send a message of condemnation over his appalling comments.

“It’s frankly outrageous that police commissioners are so unaccountable to the residents they are elected to serve. The ‘recall’ laws which apply to MPs should urgently be extended to include police commissioners, who have direct power in deciding how to spend taxpayer’s money.

“The commissioner’s comments and his failure to recognise their impact are simply unforgivable and he should resign immediately.”

He added: “It is incredibly important that local communities across North Yorkshire have confidence in the police, and the police, fire and crime commissioner is supposed to be the residents’ voice and advocate in leading change and maintaining trust in the police.  “It is now without any doubt that Mr Allott has lost the trust of the residents he has been elected to represent.”