Councillor 'humiliated' colleague over allowances

A Green Party councillor breached Leicester City Council's code of conduct by making an "irrelevant and unwarranted" comment about a Labour colleague's allowances, a standards committee has ruled.

An investigation was launched after Labour councillors complained Patrick Kitterick had attempted to "shame or humiliate" Mohammed Dawood during a speech he made in a full council meeting on 18 September.

A report, published on Thursday, said the authority's standards committee agreed Kitterick had failed to treat Dawood with respect.

The report said Kitterick should make a written apology, but he told the BBC he would not be doing so.

The complaint followed a debate, in the council chamber, about the Labour-run authority's decision not to follow the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman's recommendation to pay compensation to a woman who was made homeless after fleeing domestic abuse.

During the debate, Kitterick, who said the council should follow the ombudsman's recommendation, told Labour members: "Be accountable for how you vote because that's the other problem with this system.

"They'll take the allowances.

"And boy does councillor Dawood take the allowances.

"They'll take the power. They'll take the glory. But then when it comes to the accountability, it's not our fault. It's not our fault. It's a Tory government."

The panel concluded Kitterick had "attacked the person, not the issue, by making an irrelevant and unwarranted reference to his [Dawood's] taking of councillors' allowances".

"This was disrespectful and designed to humiliate," it said.

As well as recommending Kitterick apologise, the panel said he should undertake training on the code of conduct.

Kitterick, who represents the city's Castle ward, told the BBC: "I'm always happy to do training, but I won't be apologising.

"I was raising a legitimate issue.

"This [the complaint] is just an attempt by Labour to stop scrutiny of their decisions."

Dawood told the BBC: "It's surprising he used those comments in public. He singled me out and I don't know why.

"The complaint's been upheld. He's not apologised, but he should. That's just the way he is."

Councillor Susan Barton, Labour chair of the standards committee, said: "Our investigation of this complaint found that councillor Kitterick did not conduct himself in the manner we expect of our elected members, and as set out in the code of conduct.

"It is right that our findings be made public, so that people have confidence that disrespectful behaviour of this nature will not be tolerated and has no place in our council chamber.

"People who serve our communities should never be subject to personal abuse."

A separate complaint against Kitterick, concerning disrespect displayed towards another councillor at the same meeting, was not upheld by the standards panel.

The panel found that, although the comments were "offensive and designed to embarrass", they were broadly related to the issue under debate, so benefited from protection afforded to political expression under Article 10(2) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

It is the second time this year Kitterick has been found guilty of breaching the code of conduct.

He was judged to have been rude to senior council officers during a meeting about a housing scheme in November 2024.

At that time, he was urged to apologise to them but declined to do so.

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