u/yu3

Alex Catt, who once led the Norwich Green group, was subjected to the council's first standards hearing for five years over his social media posts, which accused Labour of running a "transphobic hate campaign".

Labour had lodged a formal complaint, describing the claims as "slanderous" and arguing that the councillor had breached the authority's code of conduct.

The complaint triggered an investigation by the council.

However, its standards committee, which met behind closed doors on April 29, ruled by a majority vote that "the threshold for a breach of the Code of Conduct had not been reached."

The cross-party panel said the Green had been acting within his capacity as a councillor, recognising "the political nature of the communications complained of" and stating that "elected members are entitled to express political views and engage in political debate, subject to the requirements of the Code of Conduct".

It did however issue a reminder to all councillors about "the need to exercise caution in the use of language, particularly in relation to social media and other forms of communication".

Following the verdict, Mr Catt said: "I welcome the decision of the standards committee, which did not uphold the allegations made against me.

"Standards procedures are important for maintaining trust in public life, but they should never become part of party-political disputes. This process has gone on for many months and has inevitably had a personal and reputational impact."

"Given the outcome, I believe an apology from those who pursued these allegations would be the right and decent thing to do."

The verdict comes just days after the Greens swept to power at City Hall for the first time, taking five wards from Labour to give them control of the council.

Mr Catt, who previously represented the Sewell ward, did not seek re-election but remains involved with the party as a regional campaigns manager.

i doubt reform uk will do anything.

in relation to richard 'dicky' eminson, another tommy robinson supporting reform uk candidate, the party have said > Mr Bick said that because Mr Eminson had already been formally nominated, the party has no mechanism to remove his name from the ballot. >... > "If he's elected and becomes part of the group, well, then we've got a decision to make about whether he gets the whip, and that's got to be done in the circumstances."

they could suspend both candidates from the party now, before the election, just as the conservative party did in 2021 after finding out their candidate glenn tingle had made sexist & racist posts on social media. however reform uk won't take this moral stand because they may need 'dicky' and others like him to secure a majority.