A BID to force a mayor to step down over his conduct in the council chamber was thwarted last night.

Hasting Council's opposition Liberal Democrat group tabled a motion of no confidence in Labour's Godfrey Daniel following a series of incidents branded "a complete waste of police time".

But the motion was thrown out at a full council meeting last night, prompting a walkout by the opposition.

It was put forward after a number of incidents, including one in mid December when the mayor suspended for 50 minutes a full council meeting he was chairing.

He had asked a man to leave the council chamber. When he refused, the meeting was adjourned, police were called and the man was ejected.

Coun Daniel told the Argus today: "The motion was illegal according to our legal officer, so we put it to a vote to throw it out, which succeeded.

"It's what people resort to when they haven't got policies and try to attack personalities."

Lib Dem councillor Pam Brown, who branded the December incident "a complete waste of police time", said today: "We walked out of the meeting at the end because we feel democracy has gone out the window. It means we can't ever criticise the mayor.

"But this is not the end of the matter."

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