Tory chiefs accused of whipping members into silence over gay marriage debate

11:38am Thursday 26th July 2012 in News

GAY couples in the Cotswolds claim they are being denied basic human rights after a recent debate about same sex marriage was stifled by district councillors.

The Liberal Democrat opposition on Cotswold District Council had called on all members to pledge support for gay and lesbian couples having the right to marry after the government launched a consultation on the issue.

Lib Dems were outraged that Cotswold MP Geoffrey Clifton Brown had not supported gay marriage through the consultation, claiming around 8,000 gay people in the region were being ignored as a result.

But when CDC leader Cllr Lynden Stowe (Campden-Vale) said Conservative members would not take part in the discussion the public chamber erupted with anger.

Lib Dem leader Cllr Paul Hodgkinson (Churn Valley), addressed the meeting with emotion.

"I will soon celebrate 25 years together with my partner," he said. "We became civil partners in 2006 at the earliest opportunity, but we'd prefer to be married.

"This is a question of equality and everyone like me having the same rights as everybody else."

CDC's Lib Dem leader Cllr Paul Hodgkinson

"This is a question of equality and everyone like me having the same rights as everybody else."

Angry shouts from members of the public that Tory councillors had been "whipped" into silence by their leader forced some to speak up.

Chris Epps and Lee Cox, who run Beeches Stores in Cirencester, have been together 12 years.

They attended the meetin especially to hear the debate.

"They have been voted into power by us, so why won't they listen and at least debate the issue," asked Mr Epps. "Those councillors are extremely arrogant."

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Hodgkinson added: "It's an absolute disgrace that the leader of the council won't even contemplate engaging in a debate about fundamental human rights. Some of the comments being made were bigoted.

"After what I saw at the meeting, CDC has really hit rock bottom."

Comments(18)

resident cdc watcher says...
12:11pm Thu 26 Jul 12

Cir stowe said it was outside the councils remit as it was a national issue but i guess that when he wanted to pressure our mp back in february of last year about the EU budget ( which at the time was going though the european parliament) that was ok

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David Broad says...
12:19pm Thu 26 Jul 12

The original intention was that the Conservative Group would not take part in this debate. In the event many members did take part after being goaded by Liberal Democrats. with suggestions of bigotry. The motion included the suggestion that CDC should write to our MP asking him to support the proposals for equal marriage. The devil is in the detail here and the proposals were not provided to members before or at the meeting, certainly I am not clear on what was /is being proposed although I am aware of strenuous opposition by some religions, so even at this late stage I stand by my decision not to take part in the debate of 10th July on the grounds of insufficient information..

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Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum says...
1:04pm Thu 26 Jul 12

Gay marriages = immoral and should not be allowed under any circumstances.

It Is Not Marriage
It Violates Natural Law
It Validates and Promotes the Homosexual Lifestyle
It Turns a Moral Wrong into a Civil Right

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Olly Cromwell says...
1:49pm Thu 26 Jul 12

It is certainly in the remit of a local authority Council to discuss and debate this issue.

The Tories approached the issue with a view to voting the Motion down but without explaining their reasoning.This tactic backfired when some more liberated Tories broke ranks from Cllr Broad's strict whip and engaged in the debate.

However, they would never have the backbone to criticise their own upstanding MP (divorced I believe) and so they were left looking like the dinosaurs Cameron had claimed he'd got rid off.

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freddy666 says...
1:55pm Thu 26 Jul 12

Is it not the responsibility and duty of a councillor to thoroughly read the agenda papers,and research such proposals prior to a meeting.They are sent a few days beforehand precisely for this reason.

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David Broad says...
2:08pm Thu 26 Jul 12

Exactly my point freddy666, there were no agenda papers as such, just the motion under other business which ran to 10 lines of text.

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David Broad says...
2:09pm Thu 26 Jul 12

Make that "Other Matters"

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SNTC11 says...
2:10pm Thu 26 Jul 12

Typical Standard...always at least 7 days behind The Echo who ran this story last week.

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freddy666 says...
2:41pm Thu 26 Jul 12

So,Cllr Broad...You are saying that you did have prior knowledge of the motion. Wouldn't it be a sensible idea to research the topic, so you have a little background information that might help you enter into a debate? Isn't this what you're paid to do? That's the whole point. People wanted a debate, but that didn't happen, because the ruling group were whipped...but you would know all about that being the group whip? that's what really upset people the most...the serious lack of understanding, and debate! shows how out of touch some Councillors are.

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Susie Clark says...
5:00pm Fri 27 Jul 12

Would anyone like to tell me what gay marriage has to do with the local district council .What they do is empty the bins, decide on what gets built where, make sure we don’t run the risk of being poisoned in our restaurants and clean out wasps’ nests – but gay marriage – I don’t think so ! They don’t even run the registry offices, for goodness sake. Certainly, I don’t remember it being included in any party’s manifesto in last year’s elections.

Cllr Stowe’s wisdom in not wanting to be involved in this debate was vindicated in spades by Cllr.Hodgkinson’s remarks about bigots i.e seemingly anyone who doesn’t agree with his views.

The district council is not some 6th form debating society where any topic under the sun can be discussed. It should restrict itself to deciding on issues over which it has control and leave the rest to other forums. e.g the Commons.

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Olly Cromwell says...
6:21pm Fri 27 Jul 12

David Cameron on 25th July 2012:

"I run an institution - the Conservative Party - which for many years got on the wrong side of this argument, it locked people out who were naturally Conservative from supporting us."

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cirenshane says...
8:03pm Fri 27 Jul 12

Would anyone like to tell me what gay marriage has to do with the local district council?

Miss clark reading the top comment here made by one "resident cdc watcher" what does the EU budget have to do with the Costwold District Council?

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bobirving says...
9:10am Sun 29 Jul 12

My understanding is that the motion on equal marriage was up for debate at CDC because Geoffrey Clifton Brown, without ignoring the views of anyone in his constituency other than those who wrote to him, has decided that he will vote against that bill in the House of Commons. When he fails in representing us, CDC is the only place where anything like this can be debated.
There is a severe democratic deficit in this area with important political issues never being discussed. Around us, the NHS is being sold off to the private sector, the support for the poor, unemployed and disabled is being dismantled. But these horrors are being accepted in the Cotswolds without a whimper.

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Councillor John Hughes says...
7:29pm Sun 29 Jul 12

Bob has the right idea, it's time to start thinking outside of the 'box' - I seconded the motion, and was very proud to.

As I explained in my speech, the reason we brought it to district council, due to the views of thousands of Cotswold people being ignored by our MP. Mr Clifton-Brown, probably a good chap deep down, and he has a good responsive team around him... but he's clearly OUT OF TOUCH.

Myself and Joe Harris, discussed this motion with the Chairman at CDC, and he was happy to allow it.

Still no debate... only a whipped group, following it's leader. No discussion, no empathy, no nothing.

Bob is right, apathy runs very high around here... many people feel miss represented, and ignored by the MP, and local Councillors, this is why I decided to run for election, because I was fed up with it.

Of course this motion is outside of the remit, that's the whole point! Sometimes you have to take unusual action, when it's needed.

What's wrong with challenging the system when people think it's wrong, that's how changes are made.

What upset me the most, was the serious lack of empathy among the Tory group...and the whipping system, what's the point of having a democracy, if everything is just railroaded through with zero discussion.

I would NEVER be whipped, I and my group vote which ever way we feel suits the people best.

Councillor David Broad, surprised (pleasantly of course) to see you're posting under your real identity today and not a fake one as you usually do.

You once said to me and I quote: "it's great being whipped, it's the easy life, you just sit there and watch the world go by...I read some of my railway book" Well I'm sure the good people of the Cotswolds love and respect you for representing them in such an effective way.

Anyway, I don't mean to moan, just needed to get that off my chest. Also I don't mean to have a dig at David, I actually quite like him, but I got to do my job and shake the system up, I promised the people I would.

Ya'll have yourselves a good Sunday, PEACE! :)

X

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Councillor John Hughes says...
8:41pm Sun 29 Jul 12

Also, if anyone's interested... why not watch this video :)

http://vimeo.com/463
94897

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David Broad says...
2:11am Mon 30 Jul 12

Good video. Paul looks a bit wooden but John comes across well.

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toryboy5 says...
3:07pm Mon 30 Jul 12

Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve

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Harry_Collier says...
10:48am Thu 2 Aug 12

I'd prefer local councils to stick to things such as parking, libraries, bin collections, and the like. What people do in private in their own homes is up to them, as long as they don't frighten the horses, as someone once said. World's most boring topic, apart from the Olympics.

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