Cleone Stapleton-Simmonds | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Nevis Island Assembly | |
| Assumed office March 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Joseph Parry |
| Constituency | District 5/Saint Thomas' Parish |
| Personal details | |
| Party | Nevis Reformation Party (until 2023) Independent (from 2023) |
Cleone Stapleton-Simmonds is a Nevisian attorney and politician serving as a member of the Nevis Island Assembly,representing District 5/the Saint Thomas' parish.
Stapleton-Simmonds was first elected in March 2020 to the Nevis Island Assembly in a by-election for District 5/St Thomas’Parish as a member of the Nevis Reformation Party (NRP),following the retirement of the incumbent NRP representative Joseph Parry. [1] [2] Following this result,she became the first woman elected as a parliamentary representative of the NRP. [3] In September 2020,Stapleton-Simmonds unsuccessfully stood to be leader of the NRP,losing to Janice Daniel-Hodge. [4] However,she was announced as Deputy Leader of the party. [5]
Stapleton-Simmonds was re-elected as the representative of District 5 at the 2022 election,becoming one of two elected NRP members sitting in Opposition in the Assembly,with NRP leader Janice Daniel-Hodge being elected to District 4. [6] In February 2023,she was suspended from the NRP and in May was formally removed from the party following reported disagreements between her and party leader Janice Daniel-Hodge over the process of appointing a senator and a Leader of the Opposition. [7] [8] Stapleton-Simmonds currently sits as an independent representative in the Nevis Island Assembly. [9]