A council leader insisted his cabinet members take social isolation seriously – after a number of them were seen in hysterics during a debate on the matter.

Medway Council's Cllr Alan Jarrett made the intervention after Cllr Martin Potter (Con) attempted to make a point about how gaming and social media has contributed to the feeling of loneliness for younger people at a public meeting held on Tuesday.

But some members – most notably deputy leader Cllr Howard Doe (Con) and Cllr Jane Chitty (Con) – could not stop laughing throughout his comments, with unintended innuendo thought to be the reason for their outbursts.

He said: “Gaming is very different now to what it was like a decade ago when I was growing up.

“It used to be the case that if you wanted to play a game with someone, you had to go around someone’s house, and play in person – but nowadays you can do it online.

“So you’ll lose that face-to-face interaction which you would have once had.”

Cabinet members often make a joke of Cllr Potter's age - as the youngest cabinet member on Medway Council - and it was his reference to a “decade ago when I was growing up” which started the giggling.

The comments were made during a discussion about the council’s report on the impact of social isolation in Medway, which has 23 recommendations on how to improve the wellbeing of those affected.

While Cllr Andrew Mackness (Con) looked visibly unimpressed, leader Cllr Alan Jarrett (Con) said the incident did not reflect members’ attitude towards the issue.

He added: “The levity exhibited was at Cllr Potter’s expense, not at the expense of the subject – that’s really important to make that point. Nobody is taking this subject lightly.”

A number of portfolio holders made serious points about social isolation before and after the laughter, with Cllr Rodney Chambers (Con) calling for developers to build more smaller homes for the bereaved.

He told members: “It’s when one of the partners dies, that the loneliness sets in. A certain amount of loneliness is created by the fact that they realise where they are living is now too big for what they require.”