Nick Skellett, Surrey County Council leader resigns.

10.15.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 30th Mar 2009

On Monday, 30 March, Nick Skellett, the leader of Surrey County Council admitted in an interview with Radio Jackie that he has resigned.

He will also stand down as leader of the ruling conservative group, a position he's held for 12 years.

Surrey County Council was recently awarded just one star out of a possible four in a recent audit commission report.

Lib Dem county councillor Sarah Di Caprio called for his resignation last July. She said her party wanted Mr Skellett, recently given a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, to resign for a lack of political leadership.

At the time, the media reported that Surrey County Council has misled a Government watchdog over staff and child safety checks.

Both Ofsted and the Audit Commission criticised the council service which looks after about 4,000 at-risk children, rating three of the five areas as inadequate and the other two as merely adequate.

According to the report, Surrey County Council made false statements that all staff had been checked to see if they were a threat to children and vulnerable people.