Bristol councillor blocked by mayor Marvin Rees to lodge complaint

Tim Kent said 'it is clear the mayor is only interested in those that are there to praise him' in response to being blocked on the social media platform

A councillor has said he will lodge a formal complaint against the mayor for blocking him on Twitter.

Tim Kent was blocked by Bristol mayor Marvin Rees hours after questioning the mayor's right to block people on Twitter during a council meeting.

Mr Kent said Mr Rees had breached the city council members' code of conduct by treating him with "disrespect" and making "false statements" about him.

Mr Rees said he was entitled to block whomsoever he wished.

Mr Rees said his Twitter account had a "dual purpose", having been set up before he was mayor

Liberal Democrat Mr Kent was blocked by the Labour mayor's Twitter account on Wednesday morning after he 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.

He said Mr Rees had not answered the question when he asked how many users on the social media site had been prevented from seeing the mayor's posts.

"It is clear that the mayor has breached the members' code of conduct in treating a fellow member with disrespect and making false statements about them - implying that I have engaged in personal abuse or lied.

"For too long we have allowed his behaviour to go unchallenged and I am afraid I am as guilty as anyone in not standing up to unacceptable behaviour by him. I will be submitting a formal complaint about this and asking for an external investigation," Mr Kent said.

Asked at a press conference on Wednesday morning whether Mr Kent had posted anything inappropriate that merited blocking him, Mr Rees said: "I don't have individuals that I target, but I generally have criteria and I should set an example.

"If people are misleading, abusive, pointless or unnecessarily negative then I decide to block them.

"I am the mayor of the city and I am really concerned about people's mental health."