Rambler

@AngelaRayner, did you allow Islamist extremists to influence the drafting of the “anti-Muslim hostility” definition? It’s a simple yes-or-no question. If not, why did your department claim that it had deleted all responses to the Working Group’s consultation, only to say — after the Free Speech Union threatened legal action — that the responses were still held on its data system? And why does your department still refuse to disclose who responded to the consultation? While we’re at it: if, as your Permanent Secretary confirmed in a letter to @NJ_Timothy, ministers had no involvement in this decision, who is running your department? The public deserves to know the truth.

The leader of the Reform UK group at Devon County Council has been told to apologise to council officers and undergo training after being accused of bringing the authority “into disrepute”. The action followed his safeguarding concerns about giant sex toys and “chemsex” literature displayed at an LGBTQI+ event stall in Exeter Library, next to the children’s area. One mother complained that she had to explain to her six- and seven-year-old children what the giant purple prosthetic penis was for. Councillor Michael Fife Cook faced a Standards Committee hearing after emailing colleagues to raise safeguarding concerns. Two council officers then submitted code of conduct complaints. In his email to fellow Reform UK councillors and council officials, Fife Cook wrote: “Our council officers can’t be trusted in safeguarding children. What consenting adults do with each other in the privacy of their own homes is their concern, but any normal person would look at what was on show at this event and would believe it was not appropriate for young children. “To me this makes us all complicit in promoting and encouraging sexualisation of children. “To allow future events like this in property owned by the public will be rightly deemed as reprehensible and we will all be at fault.” Despite Fife Cook’s request for the three-hour Standards Committee meeting to be held in public, the public and press were excluded. The committee found that Councillor Fife Cook had failed to treat others with courtesy and respect and had brought the council into disrepute. He was cleared of allegations of bullying, compromising the council’s impartiality and causing the council to breach a statutory duty. After the hearing, Fife Cook said: “I wonder what the public will take from a standards meeting held in private at County Hall, aimed at rebuking a councillor for speaking out about the lack of safeguarding for children. “Will the public applaud such a draconian procedure, or will they wonder if the council’s time and money would be better spent working to improve the services provided for all the people of Devon?” Elected representatives must be free to raise concerns on behalf of their constituents, especially safeguarding concerns, without facing vexatious complaints or being silenced by unelected council officers. The Free Speech Union is supporting Michael’s legal challenge because Codes of Conduct must not be weaponised to silence legitimate political speech. A victory could help protect councillors across England from similar disciplinary action. Read more below and donate to our crowdfunder 👇