A COMPLAINT made by one councillor against another has been dismissed as being ‘tit for tat’.

Sherborne St. John ward councillor Tristan Robinson had made a formal complaint against Labour group leader Cllr Paul Harvey following a heated dispute on Twitter.

The issue arose in November 2017 during the Westminster sex scandal when Cllr Robinson commented on a widely-circulated list of 40 MPs claimed members to have behaved improperly or had relations with people working within Westminster.

In a Tweet, the Basingstoke Labour Councillors account said Cllr Robinson’s comments were ‘shameful’.

According to Cllr Robinson, the exchange between himself and the Basingstoke Labour Councillors Twitter account was an intrusion into his personal life, and the complaint was lodged However, in the decision notice from Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council’s deputy monitoring officer, the complaint was dismissed as there was no evidence to show the tweets were sent from Cllr Harvey.

In the notice it read: “The complaint is relatively minor or tit for tat.

“There has been no breach of confidentiality as information regarding the complainant’s employer is in the public domain.”

Following the decision to dismiss the complaint Cllr Harvey told The Gazette: “It is ridiculous that it even reached the scale it did.

“This again is just another waste of council money on something that wasn’t even necessary.”

Speaking this week when contacted by The Gazette, Cllr Robinson said he thought the whole incident had run its course.

He added: “My complaint against Cllr Harvey was due to an unacceptable intrusion into a councillor’s personal life.

“Following the decision of the monitoring officer, I now consider this matter closed.”