Following Councillor Brian Hall' s appearance before standards committee earlier this month, his fellow county councillors are now calling for the member for transport and the environment to be removed from cabinet.

The committee met to consider an ombudsman's report which concluded that, by making threats against a BBC journalist, Cllr Hall had been in breach of the council's code of conduct.

The threats were made at a BBC reception in 2005, that Cllr Hall maintained he had not attended in an official capacity despite claiming travelling expenses.

During the function Cllr Hall was overheard saying that if the journalist ever went to Ireland he would not be coming back and that he had friends in Ireland who could break the reporter's arms and legs.

Cllr Hall has always admitted to making the comments but said that they were said in jest.

Cllr Hall was represented in front of the standards committee by top London lawyer, Tony Child. Mr Child hasn't lost a case in 20 years and is rumoured to cost £2,000 a day.

He famously represented Ken Livingston in the High court, when Justice Collins overturned the Adjudication Panel for England's verdict that the Mayor of London had brought his office into disrepute by likening a Jewish journalist to a Nazi camp guard.

Mr Child argued that the Hall case was making "much ado about very little" and that Cllr Hall was simply excessing his right to freedom of speech which is the "foundation of our freedom" and the "lifeblood of democracy".

After hours of deliberation the standards committee decided that, although Cllr Hall's behaviour was "very reprehensible" they were not satisfied that the actions were those of Brian Hall the councillor, rather than Brian Hall the man and therefore were not convinced that it had bought his office into repute.

Last Friday leaders of the county council's three main political parties - Labour's Sue Perkins, Plaid Cymru's Mike Williams and Lib Dem's Toiny Brinsden signed a notice of motion calling for Cllr hall to be removed from cabinet and other outside bodies.

The notice of motion will now be put before the full council on March 1st and several questions concerning Cllr Hall's claim of expenses to attend a function as a private individual are also expected to be submitted.

"The standards committee described his behaviour as reprehensible," said Cllr Perkins. "And I think his conduct in the past has proven beyond doubt that he should not be a cabinet member and should not represent Pembrokeshire County Council on outside bodies - namely the Mid and West Wales Fire Authority.

"It was stated that he attended the BBC function in a private capacity, yet he claimed expenses, and it was to my knowledge that I cannot claim expenses for private functions."

Cllr Perkins added that she hoped that other councillors would back the notice of motion at the meeting.

Do you think Cllr Hall should resign or be removed from cabinet? Should an elected representative's right to freedom of speech extend to their being able to make threats against someone's physical safety?

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