CHILTERN District Council's Liberal Democrats have been described as "childish" after proposing and then withdrawing a tit-for-tat motion on the rights and wrongs of gay marriages.

The motion was even described as "stupid" by its proposer, Cllr Jane Bramwell, who freely admitted it was a "spoiler" intended to grab the limelight from a motion by Tory councillor David Meacock to refuse payment in euros for council services.

Cllr Bramwell told our sister paper the Midweek: "What we shouldn't be doing is discussing national matters and wasting council time furthering Mr Meacock's political ambitions, so every time he puts down a stupid motion I'll put down one as well."

But Cllr Bramwell withdrew her motion after it emerged at a council meeting on Tuesday that Cllr Meacock was withdrawing his because of possible legal difficulties.

Residents Association leader Cllr Derek Lacey told the Free Press this week he thought the gay marriages motion had been "very, very childish."

If successful, it would have forced the district council's members, employees and contractors to treat gay and co-habiting couples on equal terms with wedded spouses.

Cllr Bramwell told the council: "I had two reasons to put this motion forward. The first is that it's a very worthy motion for this council to consider. The second is because Cllr Meacock put his forward.

"It has not been the policy of this council to discuss national issues it's not wrong, but we just don't do it and it seemed to me if Mr Meacock was going to break this trend it was wrong that we should only discuss motions that further Cllr Meacock's career."

Cllr Meacock has rejected the allegation that he was wasting this council time by grabbing the meeting's attention for issues of national politics.

February 14, 2002 13:38