A COUNTY Council leader shut off a speaker's microphone at a cabinet meeting after he accused the speaking councillor of making 'political statements'.

Cllr Geoff Driver, who is the leader of Lancashire County Council, accused county Cllr David Whipp, who represents the Pendle Rural area, of pushing his own political agenda during a discussion about road repairs in Thursday's County Hall cabinet meeting.

Cllr Whipp asked the committee a series of questions linked to the 'lack of funds' for repairs of roads in Pendle.

During the exchange between the leader and county councillor, Cllr Driver said the cabinet meeting was not the place for Cllr Whipp to make political statements and asked for his microphone to be turned off.

After the meeting Cllr Whipp described the chairman's intervention as an 'abuse of his power' after Cllr Driver failed to answer any questions put to him.

Cllr Whipp said: "I think county councillor Driver has a personal dislike of myself and it's quite clear that he takes every opportunity to rubbish me.

"Since the meeting quite a lot of people have watched it on webcast.

"I have received messages of support from people I know and I think a number of people will report him to the Standard Committee for breach of councillor code of conduct and will see what happens.

"I would say it's clearly in breach of the rules governing county councillors and it's about time he got his comeuppance."

In response to the comments, Cllr Driver said: "My personal feelings of councillor Whipp and any other councillor are irrelevant and do not come into this.

"Cllr Whipp comes to cabinet and always, without fail, causes disruption at the meeting instead of making a point to the cabinet or asking a general question, which is what other councillors do, about the item of the agenda.

"Cabinet is a business meeting and where the concerns of Lancashire are debated.

"The councillor constitution is quite clear that the only people that have a right to speak at cabinet meeting are the committee.

"Grand statements and political comments should be made in a council chamber not in cabinet.

"I told Cllr Whipp he will not speak at cabinet again after the meeting."