Medway Labour councillors stormed out of a council meeting after refusing to vote on an amendment to a motion they claim is unconstitutional.

Councillors at the full council meeting at the St George's Centre, Chatham Maritime, were discussing a motion put forward by Labour councillor Clive Johnson which called on councillors to give £55,000 of ward improvement funds back to the Sure Stat budget.

Cllr Johnson called on his colleagues to put the cash back into children's centres to help with the transition to "any new delivery model which may emerge after consultation".

Clllr Barry Kemp then proposed an amendment to the motion which stated: "This council notes the pressure placed on Medway's Children's Centres and their important services by budgetary constraints.

"This council further notes that Medway Council has conducted extensive public consultation in relation to the provision of Sure Start centres in Medway.

"This council calls upon the cabinet to carefully evaluate the outcome of the consultation, and to respond in a way which takes account of the needs of service users."

Cllr Johnson said the addition was not an amendment but a statement and the council's legal officer asked Cllr Kemp to clarify the wording.

Medway Labour leader Cllr Vince Maple then told the meeting the amendment was unacceptable and said Labour councillors would not be voting on it and they walked out.

The Mayor of Medway, Cllr David Wildey, then called a vote, without the Labour councillors, and the amendment passed.

Cllr Maple said: “The advice was clearly wrong. It was inappropriate to guide Cllr Kemp towards some sort of meaning.

“The so-called amendment simply repeated the first part of Cllr Johnson’s motion then replaced the substantive part with meaningless platitudes and back-slapping.

“It underlines the arrogance of Medway’s ruling Conservatives that they were not prepared to put a proper amendment in writing when their error was pointed out.

“As with their callous and misguided Sure Start closure plans, it appears their motto is ‘Keep wrong and carry on’.”

Cllr Johnson said: “The Tories’ unconstitutional action was a misguided attempt at political theatre to divert attention from the very issue they are so afraid of – the growing public anger at their planned decimation of support for the youngest citizens of Medway."

Earlier in the evening protestors led a march against the proposed closures of Sure Start children's centres from Gun Wharf to outside the meeting at Chatham Maritime.

Head of children's services Cllr Andrew Mackness faced a lot of questions, both from the public and fellow councillors, about the proposed closure of 19 children's centres across Medway during the meeting.

Cllr Mackness reiterated throughout the evening that feedback from a public consultation on the plans, which ended last Wednesday, would be taken into account before the final proposal is discussed.