Disgraced MP Neil Parish pledged his support for Axminster and Seaton just hours before he resigned, having admitted to watching pornography in the House of Commons. 

At a recent meeting of East Devon District Council's Cabinet, council leader Paul Arnot said he had held a meeting with Mr Parish on Friday, April 29, before he announced he was resigning just 24 hours later. 

In the meeting, he pledged to support both Axminster and Seaton in getting their fair share of the government's Levelling Up fund for major works to Seaton seafront and industrial units in the town, as well as regeneration projects in Axminster. 

Cllr Arnott said that Mr Parish had pledged to "personally fight on for the missing £1.6 million his government promised they would help the council with two years ago", in return for keeping leisure company LED running during the pandemic. 

He also said he would work with East Devon District Council on phosphate levels in the River Axe, which have ground planning applications for new development in Axminster to a halt, following advice from Natural England. 

Cllr Arnott said: "As a farmer, with all the problems of leaking slurry lagoons and fertiliser run offs from fields, he would have been a considerable figure in all this."

During the meeting, Mr Parish was also asked to assist with the "huge strain put on a district council when it is was suddenly asked to distribute energy rebate payments via the means of the council tax system", and to help with a change to housing policy, especially to protect any new social housing.

Cllr Arnott commented: "Mr Parish pledged to help us with all the above and I was grateful to him for the meeting, which was professional and civil. 

"I have no doubt that he had no idea what was to befall him just a few hours later."

Despite their political differences, Democratic Alliance leader Cllr Arnott said that Mr Parish's subsequent resignation had been an "unhappy matter" and his resignation interview on the BBC "will remain as the tragic record of a broken man".

"It is not possible to condone what he did in the chamber of the House of Commons but in his overnight decision to resign by Saturday morning and the astonishingly frank interview he gave, Mr Parish leaves a long political career having abided by the codes regarding resignation, so blithely ignored by his superiors in the Conservative Party."

Mr Parish is now reportedly considering standing for re-election in the Honiton & Tiverton constituency, which includes Axminster, as an independent candidate.