Witham councillor's conduct investigated after Pride comments

Angela Kilmartin was mayor of Witham in 2021-22

A council says it is looking into several code of conduct issues after social media comments by one of its Tory members about LGBTQ+ Pride flags.

Braintree District Council's Angela Kilmartin wrote on Facebook that she did not want any "sex flags" on her local High Street in Witham, Essex.

Ms Kilmartin told the BBC she stood by her comments but said "if shop owners want to put up flags, they can".

The council Conservative group said she was suspended pending an investigation.

Witham Town Hall flies the Pride flag every June

The local politician wrote on a public community group on Wednesday in response to a post from a man who had bought Pride flags for Witham businesses to feature in their shop windows.

A hair salon in the town - that displayed a rainbow flag - had its front window egged earlier in the week.

Ms Kilmartin wrote: "I don't want pride sex flags along my High Street. I don't even want heterosexual flags along my High Street.

"Sex is for the bedroom and private life, not for displaying preferences in public."

Ms Kilmartin reiterated her stance in a second comment.

'Respect and promote'

A council spokeswoman said the local authority was aware of the messages and added: "There are a number of separate code of conduct issues that we're also looking into."

She was chairman at the council between 2019 and 2021.

Ms Kilmartin is also a member of Witham Town Council where she served as mayor in 2021-22.

"We dissociate ourselves totally from the reported remarks from this particular member," said town council Conservative leader Michael Lager.

"We do not tolerate discrimination between people of different faiths, beliefs and all the protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010, that we respect and promote."

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The town council appointed an LGBTQ+ ambassador in June 2020 and a rainbow flag is flown from the Town Hall during Pride Month in June.

Ms Kilmartin told the BBC: "I stand by what I said. We didn't even have Olympic flags up when that was happening.

"If shop owners want to put up flags they can."

She said she would step down as a town councillor ahead of local elections on 4 May, which she had planned to do since last year.

The Conservative group at Braintree council said she was suspended, and would not sit as a Tory councillor, during a 21-day investigation period.

A spokesman for the Witham [parliamentary] Constituency Conservative Association added: "The councillor in question has been suspended from the Conservative group pending a full investigation."