Councillor demands probe over Twitter snub
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 opposition Cllr Tim Kent claims Mr Rees has breached the city council members’ code of conduct by treating him with “disrespect”. But Mr Rees said he was entitled to block whoever he wanted if he deemed they were “misleading, abusive, pointless or unnecessarily negative”.
Cllr Kent 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 Mr Rees ‘did not answer his question’.
When asked why he had blocked Cllr Kent, Mr Rees’ spokesperson said: “The mayor’s blocked people who use personal abuse or deliberately spread misinformation.”
Cllr Kent said: “The mayor’s breached the members’ code of conduct in treating a fellow member with disrespect and making false statements about them – implying that I’ve engaged in personal abuse or lied.”
He added: “I will be submitting a formal complaint about this and asking for an external investigation.”