Broxtowe county councillor 'won't be silenced' after being cleared of making 'inaccurate comments'

Coun Teresa Cullen (Brox All) and fellow Broxtowe councillor Steve Carr (Brox Ind) were two of four Nottinghamshire county councillors, along with Conservative pair Sam Smith – the Tory group leader – and Neil Clarke, who were reported by Coun Ethan Radford (Lab), city council deputy leader, over alleged breaches of their council’s code of conduct when speaking on the topic of local government reorganisation (LGR) during public meetings.

Coun Cullen said that the city was not paying off its debts by working hard and earning more money but selling off its assets in a ‘fire sale’.

Meanwhile, Coun Carr allleged that the city council wanted to bring Broxtowe under its banner under LGR as it wanted Broxtowe Council’s housing stock, worth an estimated £750m.

Coun Radford said both statements, along with those made by Couns Smith and Clarke were inaccurate and he wrote to all four councillors asking that their statements be retracted and corrected.

But all four stood by their comments, prompting Coun Radford to formally complain to the county council’s monitoring officer.

The monitoring officer, senior solicitor Charlie Mason, has now concluded the statements made by each councillor ‘do not represent a breach of the council’s code of conduct’.

Posting on Broxtowe Alliance Facebook, Coun Cullen said: “ “I will not be told what to say or how to act by the city councillors.

"I know any merger with the city is not what my residents want and and I won’t be silenced until this sham reorganisation is stopped.

"Coun Radford would be better using his time on running his bankrupt council rather than trying to police peoples language.”

In a series of emails seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Mr Mason said: “In reaching this conclusion I note that a wide degree of tolerance must be afforded to political speech in accordance with article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

“Those rights include protection for incorrect but honestly made statements.

"I have found no evidence that the councillor made any statements that they believed to be false.”

But Coun Radford called the ruling ‘absurd’ and says he will now be taking the matter further, having written to the Government Minister for Local Government calling for a new framework for local elected members to better prevent inaccurate statements being made.

He said: “Having it confirmed what he had said could be argued not to have been accurate – but having no action taken because dishonesty could not be proven – ‘makes a mockery of standards in public office’.

“This is simply not good enough and it exposes a serious weakness in the codes of conduct councillors are expected to abide by.

“Even when toddlers are caught out lying they get a telling off, but not councillors? It’s absurd.

“I have written to the Government Minister for Local Government, as it is clear existing measures to make sure politicians tell the truth are not fit for purpose.

“Members of the public deserve greater protection from councillors playing fast and loose with the truth.”