Councillors call on the Mayor of Boston to step down and threaten to remove council support if he does not

An emotional extraordinary general meeting of the council tonight saw 21 councillors vote in favour of an amended motion.

The Mayor entered the chamber in official garments at the start of the meeting before declaring an interest in the agenda item and leaving again, with Deputy Mayor Coun Barrie Pierpoint taking the role of chairman.

One by one councillors then laid out their reasons for supporting the motion with many claiming that Mr Rush's posts had been political - the constitution calls on mayors to be non-political.

Others criticised the Mayor's defence to the BBC that they themselves had been unwilling to meet with the Muslim community. Councillors said this was 'untrue'.

There were calls of displeasure from the public gallery as the meeting wore on, with Coun Pierpoint several times asking audience members to be quiet.

The evening also saw Coun Pier point launch a scathing offensive at the councillors when he said the situation could have been handled differently - including with a private meeting.

He also used the moment to announce his resignation from the Independent Group on Boston Borough Council.

However councillors were convinced the Mayor had failed to be non-political in his role and voted to call for him to step down and for administrative support to be withdrawn if he did not.

A council officer told The Standard following the meeting that Mr Rush was unavailable for comment.

For more from the meeting keep an eye on the Boston Standard.