Council to seek powers to punish 'despicable' Bill Etheridge

A full meeting of Dudley Council heard condemnation of the Sedgley councillor for his comments in two videos uploaded on to the social media platform.

The Bishop of Dudley, the Right Reverend Graham Usher, was among those who had voiced outrage, said Councillor Michael Evans, vice-chairman of the audit and standards committee.

He went on: "We believe the deliberately disrespectful and scornful comments should not be tolerated by this authority and that appropriate action should be taken to stop any further outbursts of this nature."

Mr Etheridge, who did not attend the meeting, had branded Labour councillors 'a procession of morons and imbeciles', 'commies' and 'pinkos' in the online videos which he posted following a heated full council meeting last year.

He also said Dudley Council House should be demolished and that he 'wouldn't care if councillors were inside' at the time.

Mr Etheridge, who is also a West Midlands MEP, was found guilty of a serious breach of the members' code of conduct and castigated for his 'complete lack of mitigation, regret and apology.'

Since then, the controversial politician has taunted councillors, saying that they no powers to discipline or politically hurt him.

The only action they could take was to vote to censure him – a formal expression of severe disapproval.

He also accused them of wasting £1,700 taxpayers' money investigating his behaviour, knowing their hands were tied in punishing him.

Now, however, the council is to contact the Committee of Standards in Public Life and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to ask for an amendment to the Localism Act 2011 'to provide for stronger sanctions' in cases of clear breaches of the members' code of conduct.

Mr Evans, who has served on the council for 18 years, said: "In all my years as a member of this authority, I have never witnessed such a despicable and disgraceful outburst by any member of the chamber as this case has clearly shown."

Afterwards he added: "If he had come to the the council to apologise, as any normal person would have, there would have been no need for this action."

Mr Evans also said the council had 'no choice' but to investigate Mr Etheridge and that it was he rather than the council who had wasted taxpayers' money.