A POLITICAL activist says he has contacted solicitors, claiming a town council boss made comparisons between him and the murderer of Labour MP Jo Cox.

Forest Labour Party youth organiser Zac Arnold says the astonishing claim was made by Lydney Town Council clerk Jayne Smailes in an email to Gloucestershire Police.

Mrs Smailes defended her action at a meeting of the full council on Monday (February 12), saying she had sent the email about Mr Arnold’s conduct in November as she had a duty to protect her staff.

The 18-year-old has been highly critical of the town council, with police even called to last month’s full council meeting after he unsuccessfully tried to ask councillors questions in the chamber. He was later arrested outside the council offices for an alleged breach of the peace, although no further action was taken.

This week, Mr Arnold told the council he had used a ‘subject access request’ to obtain an email which was sent to police after a previous meeting in November, accusing him and two others of being like far-right terrorist Thomas Mair, who was jailed for life in November 2016 for murdering Batley MP Mrs Cox.

He said he was simply holding a conversation outside the council offices about a Gruffalo statue in a Lydney park at the time.

And during Monday's council public question and answer session, said: “In an email to Gloucestershire Constabulary in November last year, Jayne Smailes, the town clerk, compared myself, another member of the public and an elected member of this council to the far-right terrorist responsible for the tragic murder of Jo Cox MP simply for standing outside the building at the conclusion of a meeting discussing events with another councillor.

“Do the members of this council consider this appalling comparison either accurate or acceptable?”

In reply, Ms Smailes said she ‘had a duty’ to protect staff at the council offices and believed the comparison to terrorist Mair was fitting.

To a packed council meeting, she said: “Staff were made to feel intimidated. You were aware of that fact when you actually came into the building back in November, that is why you should have stayed in the car park.

“With someone like Jo Cox, you know, the analogy is there. I am sorry you did not like it, but if that is how we have to interpret such a thing…

“Nobody in this day and age are safe. We have to protect staff, members have to protect their employees and, if we want to write, as of process to the police, that is what we will do.”

Mr Arnold said the email was now in the hands of his solicitors as he sought legal advice about its contents.

Meanwhile, the fall out from January’s meeting, where councillors left the chamber after Mr Arnold refused to move until his questions were ’answered’, also included an agenda item threatening to bar district councillor Richard Leppington from delivering his monthly Forest Council report, after he criticised the decision to call police and said the teenager was ‘owed an apology’.

Lydney Town Council voted 7-2 with three abstentions not to kick out Cllr Leppington, the district authority’s Cabinet member for regeneration, asset management, infrastructure and housing, and both sides said the matter would now be closed.

Mrs Smailes told the meeting: “I have to say I would like to ask Cllr Leppington what he would have suggested, given the fact that he remained in the chamber and spoke to the individual concerned and given the fact that a member of this individual’s own party had also spoken to this individual and asked him if he wanted to leave the building.

“I had no option but to call the police. It is important to point out that, other than lock somebody in, which is false imprisonment, I cannot physically remove somebody from a building. I do not know how you are supposed to remove somebody who does not want to leave the building without contacting the police.

“I would like to make a point that, at no time, did the council arrest anybody. We can reconvene the meeting in a different room and what happens when that individual left the building was down to the police and nobody else.”

Cllr Carol Harris said: “It was quite intimidating and I feel that perhaps Richard did not really understand what our approach is with regard to actually speaking to the press.”

Welcoming the decision to drop the matter, Cllr Leppington, who is not a member of the town council, said: “I certainly meant no disrespect to yourself (Mayor Bob Berryman) or to other members of the council, whom I hold in high esteem.

“I am very pleased that you have decided to put the matter behind us and I hope we can move on from here.”