Cllr Peter Lawrence addresses his fellow councillors at an extraordinary meeting in Mylor.
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00:00I will offer all members of the council an apology, of course, for the inconvenience this has caused to your time.
00:15I know we're all busy, we've got lots on our plate and nobody needs extra helpings on top like this.
00:21So I would like to apologise to you all for the inconvenience this has caused.
00:27I have put out a press release, or a statement.
00:33I've copied you in on that, as you're aware.
00:36I also posted it up on the Milo Live Facebook page.
00:40Unfortunately, somebody took it upon themselves to immediately take it down.
00:44So I thought I would perhaps go over the main points of it now.
00:49It won't take long in brief, just so that certain members of the public can be aware.
00:55I attended the Great British Strike on Saturday 24th of May in Quarrow, and confirm I was not there in any official capacity as a parish councillor.
01:05The footage of parts of my conversation with members of the Communist group Cornwall Resists have been shared online,
01:11and I wish to state it was not my intention for any of my words or opinions to cause offence.
01:17I appreciate the subject matter is of an emotive nature, and do regret that some of my responses were poorly articulated,
01:25and could therefore have been misinterpreted or seen as disrespectful by staff.
01:30The content has of course been framed in a way that is beyond my control, and the reporting has been severely politically biased.
01:38Nonetheless, I wish to apologise for any upset caused by my involvement in the incident.
01:44I believe we should maintain our right to freedom of speech, and freedom of opinion in this country.
01:50Putting the factual accuracy of the historical record under the question, and protecting the authentic scientific process,
01:57are things we must do for the benefit of future generations to come.
02:01And challenging claims made about the war does not make you an anti-Semite or a Holocaust denier,
02:07accusations of which I both reject.
02:10It does in fact make you an open-minded and free-thinking individual
02:14who is prepared to see all sides of a debate in order to find the truth.
02:19Finally, with the proposal, I will be abstaining from the vote as I don't agree
02:24the district view by association section should be included here.
02:29As I've said on May times, I was not there on council business.
02:34I think that is a widely accepted view.
02:40What happened in 4.0, in my opinion, has nothing to do with my parish council.
02:45Therefore, there should be no association with it.
02:47So, on those grounds, I will be abstain on the vote.
02:50That's all I have to say. Thank you, Chair.
02:53Thank you very much.