Council meeting descends into chaos as megaphone used during furious row between councillors

‘This is democracy – you might not like me but you’ve got to listen to me’

Police were called to step in after a council meeting erupted into a shouting match between councillors.

Councillors on Maldon District Council in Essex were meeting on Thursday evening to discuss a potential sanction to be issued to member Chrisy Morris, who had been accused of disclosing confidential information. Mr Morris denies the claims.

The vote to remove Mr Morris from all committees, working groups or outside bodies until May 2023 was unanimous.

However, Mr Morris frantically protested, saying his fellow councillors could not make him leave the meeting as he was “democratically elected”, claiming at least he had “the testicular fortitude to sit here and speak my truth”.

When asked to leave the meeting, Mr Morris, in full Handsforth Parish Council stride, said: “You can’t make me, you idiots! You can’t make me leave the meeting – I’m democratically elected!”

Mr Morris then called council chairman, Mark Heard, a “coward”. In response to being asked to be quiet, he said repeatedly that he “will be heard”.

“This is democracy – you might not like me but you’ve got to listen to me,” he said.

Speaking to BBC Essex, Jackie Weaver, the clerk at the infamously chaotic Handforth parish council meeting that went viral back in February, described Mr Morris’s conduct as “not appropriate”.

When police arrived, they told Mr Morris: “You are breaching the peace by not allowing this [meeting] to continue.”

The independent councillor retorted: “You guys shouldn’t be getting involved in politics.”

After the meeting recommenced following an adjournment, Mr Morris continued to disrupt proceedings.

The chairman then asked councillors to rise and walk out in protest.

Speaking to the BBC in the wake of the meeting, Mr Morris said: “What I said I needed to say; it was very simple, I had a point of order, which the chairman should deal with as soon as it’s brought to his attention.

“They wouldn’t allow [my point of order], which was undemocratic in itself. I’m a democratically elected representative. I’ve got the right to speak. I’m there to speak and I simply have not been allowed to speak.”

He added: “It gets a lot worse than that at Westminster.”