COMPLAINTS against a councillor who described witnesses to a meeting as a 'random assortment of ne'er do wells' have not been upheld.

Conservative councillor Eddie Reeves did not breach the councillors' code of conduct when he made the comment during a speech at Oxfordshire County Council's February 11 meeting.

Mr Reeves had been speaking about a group of campaigners attending the meeting, who hoped to stop housebuilding on Green Belt land in South Oxfordshire.

Several members of the public had complained to the council's monitoring officer about the remark, as had Lib Dem councillor Tim Bearder.

An Oxfordshire County Council spokesman said: "The Monitoring Officer had a complaint about Cllr Reeves’ conduct from a member of the public following a meeting of Full Council in February 2020.

"Following an investigation, he concluded there was no breach of the councillors’ code of conduct. He also dealt with a query about Cllr Reeves’ action from members of the Liberal Democrat Group."

Mr Reeves said: "The throwaway remark I made over three months ago related to a handful of speakers who were clearly politically motivated in their opposition to building more homes.

"Other speakers were more sincere in their views and I wouldn't wish to pass judgement on them.

"As Labour colleagues pointed out at the time, building news homes - particularly for our key workers - is a social justice issue, and I agree wholeheartedly with them about that.

"It's a shame that the Lib Dems are now seeking to make party political capital out if this at such a difficult time.

"Instead, we should all be focusing on safeguarding local services and protecting vulnerable members of our communities.

"This kind of fake news will I am afraid, backfire on Lib Dems as It always does. My focus remains on residents in my division and Councillor Bearder's should be likewise."

Responding to the decision of the council, Lib Dem Mr Bearder said: “I am surprised that his conduct is not considered worthy of official sanction. Behaviour like this is an embarrassment to all his colleagues and I would implore him to be more respectful, if not to opposition councillors, at least to members of the public who have given up their time to address our council with their sincerely held views.”