The wife of an ex-pat worker has come in for flak in her native Britain after moving to Bermuda just weeks after being elected as a borough councillor.

Annabelle Blackmore, who lives in Smith's, was elected to Maidstone Borough Council in Kent in May this year before making the 3,500-mile trip to the Island, where her husband took up a job in the insurance industry. She has faced criticism in her local Press back home over the move, as well as on e-mail, and was yesterday featured by the BBC in a televised report.

But last night she spoke to The Royal Gazette while on holiday visiting family back in England and said she had so far had no problem representing her constituents from across the Atlantic.

She said she had refused to accept any allowance payments or expenses, and hoped to visit the UK regularly, so she could attend council meetings three or four times a year. "I made the decision to stand earlier on this year because I knew someone else was stepping down, and I had wanted to do it for some time, but that was well before the Bermuda issue came to a head," said Mrs. Blackmore.

She said even after the possible move to Bermuda became apparent, she decided to go ahead as planned with the election purely because she did not know whether or not she would be elected.

And she added: "But the other issue was to do with the way the papers were submitted for nomination day. The deadline had just passed when nominations could be changed.

"It's an unusual situation and it's not happened before and I think that's why some people have had problems with it. It's a period of change and people don't like change. What I'm hoping is that people will work with me over a period of time."

And she added: "I have found that I have been able to do my job."

Mrs. Blackmore, the mother of a toddler, said she was contactable by fax and e-mail, as well as by phone, and would always offer to call her Maidstone constituents back when they had issues.

She said so far it had not impeded her as a member of local government. The Conservative councillor said she had already managed to deal with a telecommunications mast problem for one resident and was happy to assist where she could.

And she said her husband could be working in Bermuda for up to two years, so she hoped to continue as a councillor throughout that time.

She added: "I think I can still operate. If there is a time when it comes unworkable, then I may look at that, but at the moment I believe I can still do it.

"I'm hoping to come back to England more frequently than every six months to attend meetings. But I have elected to be unpaid and I'm not being paid expenses.

"Because it's a difficult situation I felt that if I was paid people may be difficult. That is the personal decision I have made and it seems to be working fine."