Conservative plans to limit public questions at council meetings have been branded a shameful and undemocratic attempt to dodge scrutiny.

The controversial plan to limit questions to one per person per meeting and ban follow-up questions was put forward by Cllr Andrew Mackness (Con) - who told Full Council last night the idea was designed to encourage more public questions and improve democracy.

But his argument was scoffed at by opponents, including Labour leader Vince Maple who labelled the conservative leadership "democracy destroyers", and said the plan was a "sham and a disgrace". The Conservatives were showing contempt for the public, and simply trying to carry out council business without being held to account, said Labour.

Ironically for anyone hoping the new rules would bring speedier council meetings, discussion dominated the night and battle-weary councillors didn't leave the St George's Centre until past midnight.

Defending the plan, the Conservatives launched a broadside offensive on their opponents.

Cllr Maple had brought up Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's new method of bringing public emails to Prime Minster's Questions - and that Medway Council administration was by contrast "running scared". And it gave Council leader Alan Jarrett (Con) the perfect opportunity to launch into a scathing attack on Mr Corbyn.

The new approach to PMQs wasn't making Parliament more accessible, he said - it was an "abdication of responsibility" and had turned PMQs "into a pantomime".

And before anyone could point out PMQs had long been a pantomime, the council leader broadened the arc of his attack, saying Mr Corbyn was "disrespecting the queen, disrespecting the armed forces and disrespecting the British people".

Cllr Jarrett said he had seen "Labour's idea of democracy" at the Tory conference earlier this month, where aggressive anti-austerity protesters had thrown eggs, chased people and hurled abuse.

"I had a woman in tears at my hotel," he said, prompting chuckles - and effectively diffusing some of Labour's vitriol on an emotive subject with laughter - before he explained the woman's story. "She said this is my home town and someone's just spat in my face."

Cllr Mackness backed the leader up with his own rant against Jeremy Corbyn, prompting shouts of "What's this got to do with Medway?" from the public gallery. He didn't respond.

A new angle to the debate was brought by Cllr Rupert Turpin (Con), who said part of the reason for the changes was to stop problems caused by disruptive people, shouting and slow hand-clapping in the public gallery.

"It's very dangerous to assume that a mob and a lot of shouting shows you're in the right," he said, and went on to liken such activity to the Arab Spring uprisings in Egypt and Syria - which he said led to suffering in other areas.

"We've had people doing similar things on a smaller scale," he added. "I hope it doesn't catch on."

His argument was jumped on by Cllr Maple.

"To quote a well known comedy, 'they don't like it up 'em'", he said. "They don't like proper scrutiny.

"Cllr Turpin's comments give a taste of what they really think."

Cllr Maple's proposed amendment - which effectively deleted the plans, except for one subclause which restricted answers to three minutes - was defeated, and the new rules were adopted.

A further proposal from Cllr Maple - to have public questions at Cabinet Meetings - was also defeated.