News / Politics
Rees accused of breaching city council code of conduct
A councillor is lodging a formal complaint against Marvin Rees for blocking him on Twitter – just hours after he questioned the Bristol mayor’s right to block people on Twitter.
Lib Dem Tim Kent claims Rees has breached the city council members’ code of conduct by treating him with “disrespect” and making “false statements” about him.
But Rees said he was entitled to block whoever he wanted if he deemed they were “misleading, abusive, pointless or unnecessarily negative”.
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Kent, councillor for Hengrove & Whitchurch Park, was blocked by the mayor’s Twitter account on Wednesday morning after the opposition councillor had taken to social media the night before to share his annoyance at not being able to verbally ask the mayor a question during a council meeting, and that the written reply from Rees “did not answer his question”.
During the member forum meeting, Kent had asked how many users on the social media site had been prevented from seeing the mayor’s posts.
In Rees’ written reply he said he had set up his Twitter account before becoming mayor and that he could choose what he did with it, including “blocking individuals who are abusive or deliberately spread misinformation”.
https://twitter.com/cllrtimkent/status/1412810030827593730
When asked why he had taken the action to block Kent, a spokesperson for Rees said: “Twitter can be a very negative environment for many people and the mayor is offering an example to empower people to remove negativity from their lives.
“The mayor has blocked people who use personal abuse or deliberately spread misinformation.”
Responding to the statement, Kent said: “It is clear that the mayor has breached the members’ code of conduct in treating a fellow member with disrespect and making false statements about them – implying that I have engaged in personal abuse or lied.”
Tim Kent said ‘it is clear the mayor is only interested in those that are there to praise him’ in response to being blocked on the social media platform – photo: John Myers / Bristol Live
Kent added: “For too long we have allowed his behaviour to go unchallenged and I am afraid I am as guilty as anyone in not standing up to unacceptable behaviour by him.
“I will be submitting a formal complaint about this and asking for an external investigation.
“I am also contacting the external auditor, on advice of the National Audit Office, regarding a concern I have that he has misused public funds.
“The Twitter account of the mayor has been monitored via the council and external consultants to the tune of £100,000,” Kent said, referring to the council paying social media company Impact Social £36,000 a year over three years to harvest and analyse posts about itself and Rees.
“To use public funds for monitoring of what he now claims is a private political account will require external investigation.”
Main photo: Twitter
Read more: Rees says he does not need negativity as he continues to block those who criticise him on Twitter
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