A Labour city councillor who moved to the US because of a family crisis has resigned – a day before his political tenure was to lapse because of his non-attendance at meetings.

Tom Dodd, 30, was one of the youngest Carlisle city councillors to serve with the authority following his 2013 victory in Yewdale ward.

But his political future was thrown into uncertainty last October when he flew to Michigan in the US to marry his 28-year-old sweetheart Tess.

He had planned to return to Carlisle.

But Mr Dodd has stayed on in the US after his father-in-law became seriously ill.

In December, he said he would resign because he felt it necessary to stay with his wife through the crisis.

He acted on that statement this week, submitting his formal resignation.

But the delay has triggered a fresh war of words with his party's political opponents on Carlisle City Council - and came as another Labour city councillor resigned because she is moving away.

Belle Vue councillor Jackie Franklin resigned this week.

James Bainbridge, a Conservative councillor for Stanwix Rural ward, said: “When The Cumberland News reporter questioned Tom Dodd on December 1 as to his intentions, they were told he would be resigning in due course.

“On December 3, when asked, that became “over the next week or so”, and here we are about three and a half months later on and he sneaks in a resignation one day before he would have legally disbarred for missing six months’ worth of council meetings.

“The whole episode has been a prime example of the utterly shambolic way this Labour administration conducts itself while thinking it is beyond public reproach.

“If I was a resident of Yewdale I’d be pretty ticked off about the way the city council leadership and former councillor Dodd have chosen to cover their own backs on this issue."

Mr Dodd and his former Labour colleagues hit back.

“When I left I did so with return flights booked, hoping that it would be possible to return to the UK and see out my term on the council and also extend it,” said Mr Dodd.

“As time has passed it has become increasingly unlikely that I would be able to do that, mainly due to the health of my father-in-law.

“Since leaving Carlisle I have continued to work on achieving some good results on a couple of big projects in Yewdale, namely the Suttle House development, which appears to have come to an excellence conclusion, and also the Horse & Farrier pub, which due to a high asking price, has not progressed how I hoped.

“I wanted to see these to a conclusion rather than walking away mid-way through.

“Having said that, I'd like to thank all of the staff at the council for their help during the last four years and for all of the work they put into keeping Carlisle running.

“I hope, if nothing else, my being on the council will have encouraged others my age and younger to get involved in giving residents a voice and helping to progress the city.

"Hopefully I will be back in the chamber soon.”

Carlisle City Council leader, Colin Glover, said: “Carlisle Labour Party has put a lot of effort into encouraging young people to get involved in local politics and we were really pleased when Tom Dodd came forward to stand for the council in 2013.

“He's been a hard working councillor for Yewdale and quickly became respected by the local community for his enthusiasm in trying to improve life for the local residents he represented.

“Tom went to the USA in October to get married with the full intention of returning to Carlisle to settle down here with his new wife.

“Sadly, Tess’s father became quite ill and they felt they needed to stay in Michigan for the time being so that she could be close to her dad.

“Carlisle Conservatives were fully aware of the sad circumstances but that didn’t stop them starting a campaign of bullying and harassment almost straight away, trying to hound Tom off the council for their own political ends.”

Mr Glover said Mr Dodd always knew that if his personal circumstances didn’t change in six months, he faced the difficult decision of returning to Carlisle and leaving his new family behind, or resigning from the council.

He added: “I fully respect Tom’s decision and I hope that one day he will be able to come back and contribute to the local community once again.

“It is really important to involve young people in democracy and I just hope that the appalling way that Carlisle Conservatives have treated Tom, doesn’t put other young people off from getting involved in local politics.”

Conducting the two by-elections along with the scheduled May local elections will save the tax payer between £10,000 and £12,000, according to one Labour source.

Labour currently holds 25 seats on the city council, the Conservatives 20, while there are four independents, and one Liberal Democrat.