UKIP councillor blames storms and floods on gay marriage

Councillor David Silvester from Henley-on-Thames had defected from the Tories to UKIP

A UKIP councillor has blamed the recent storms and heavy floods across Britain on the Government's decision to legalise gay marriage.

David Silvester said the prime minister had acted "arrogantly against the Gospel".

In a letter to his local paper he said he had warned David Cameron the legislation would result in "disaster".

UKIP said Mr Silvester's views were "not the party's belief" but defended his right to state his opinions.

Divine retribution

Mr Silvester, from Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, defected from the Tories in protest at Mr Cameron's support for same-sex unions.

In the letter to the Henley Standard he wrote: "The scriptures make it abundantly clear that a Christian nation that abandons its faith and acts contrary to the Gospel (and in naked breach of a coronation oath) will be beset by natural disasters such as storms, disease, pestilence and war."

He added: "I wrote to David Cameron in April 2012 to warn him that disasters would accompany the passage of his same-sex marriage bill.

"But he went ahead despite a 600,000-signature petition by concerned Christians and more than half of his own parliamentary party saying that he should not do so."

He then went to on blame the prime minister for the bad weather:

"It is his fault that large swathes of the nation have been afflicted by storms and floods."

He went on to say that no man, however powerful "can mess with Almighty God with impunity and get away with it".

A UKIP spokeswoman said: "It is quite evident that this is not the party's belief but the councillor's own and he is more than entitled to express independent thought despite whether or not other people may deem it standard or correct."

Independent thought made the UK "a wonderful, proud, diverse and free country".

Henley's Tory MP John Howell, said: "I thought Mr Silvester's letter was not the sort of thing that he should have written in today's age.

"He really needs to consider his position."