It was alleged that the Member made a remark to the Complainant and his husband, in a private setting in a local public house, which the Complainant considered was discriminatory and not in keeping with the standards of conduct expected of local councillors.
We found that a heated exchange had taken place between councillors and the Complainant and his husband. Because the incident took place outside of a Council setting the Code of Conduct for Local Authority members (“the Code”) did not generally apply. However, we did consider whether the Member’s remarks could reasonably be viewed as bringing their office as member, or their authority, into disrepute, even though they were made in a context outside of their work for the Council. We found there was no evidence to suggest the Member’s remark was discriminatory in nature, and we did not consider that there was any evidence suggestive of any breach of the Code on this occasion.