A WELL-KNOWN councillor has been elected as effective leader once again.

Steve Walmsley's appointment comes despite a member of the public making a formal complaint from the floor, complaints from a woman evicted from a previous meeting and a fellow councillor accusing him of speaking in "a misogynistic manner".

Cllr Walmsley, leader of the Thornaby Independents who run Thornaby Town Council, hit back at his critic by arguing his Labour Party opponents were taking part in a "political pantomime" to discredit him and the Thornaby independents.

The row centred on the fact that Thornaby Town Council has increased its precept - the amount it takes in council tax from the town's tax-payers - by 30 per cent.

The woman was evicted from a previous council meeting held at Thornaby Town Hall on April 11. The council's minutes said the woman had declined to leave her name and after making several interruptions was eventually evicted.

At the council's Annual General Meeting on Monday (May 16), Cllr Walmsley's Labour opponent, Tracy Stott, queried the minutes of the previous meeting to speak up for the woman who had been evicted.

She said: "You spoke to her in a derogatory and misogynistic manner."

Another member of the public, Simon Walton, said he had not been happy with written responses to why the precept had gone up by 30 per cent and had also attended the April 11 meeting.

Making a formal complaint, he referred to the eviction of the woman, adding: "Mr Walmsley said 'someone get it out of here'. To refer to anyone in such a manner is demeaning, derogatory, degrading insulting and unprofessional. To do so to a lady is ungentlemanly."

After the meeting Cllr Walmsley said the precept had only risen after being frozen for a long time. It was actually reduced in 2012 and had only increased by £300 since then.

The extra money had gone on good causes, including a defibrillator for every school in the town, and the council had earned special praise for efficiency in a BBC study of North-East councils.

Defending himself, he pointed out he had been voted as leader again and earned praise from Stockton Borough Council council in a citation recommending he be made an alderman.

He accused Mr Walton of being part of a Labour Party "political pantomime" - although he acknowledged Mr Walton said he was not a member of any political party.

He said the woman, who did not give her name, at the previous meeting had been disruptive and not following the rules.

And he argued any formal complaint from Mr Walton should be sent to Stockton Borough Council's standards board or the police.