Ukip says its first county councillor, Adrian Crowther, is to stay with the party for the time being amid suggestions he had been wooed back to the Conservatives.

The veteran representative defected in 2013, saying he was doing so because he wanted an earlier referendum on the EU than the Tories had indicated.

However, his decision followed his deselection by the Conservatives for the Sheppey ward in the county council elections after they choose to nominate Cllr Ken Pugh instead.

Under Ukip colours, Cllr Crowther, who also sits on Swale council, retained his seat.

But last week, the party posted on its Facebook page a lengthy statement which appeared to indicate it had parted ways with the Minster Leas resident and former borough mayor.

The statement by the Ukip Swale branch said it had been embarrassed by Cllr Crowther’s “constant” decisions to vote against party policies.

However, just 24-hours later, the local party said following a meeting with Cllr Crowther, he was staying put and the two sides had settled their dispute.

Ukip Swale West county councillor, Mike Baldock, said Cllr Crowther had assured the party he wanted to stay after a long discussion.

In its initial statement, Ukip had said there was concern the 73-year-old was repeatedly voting against Ukip, citing in particular his support for wind farms and housing development.

The statement read: “Over the past few months there has been an increasing concern within the branch.

“His voting record on both KCC and Swale has repeatedly been at odds with the rest of the party, and recently his votes in favour of windfarms and supporting unsustainable housing plans have caused serious upset within the local branch.”

It went on: “Swale Ukip has a firm policy to oppose the Tory housing plans for this borough, and it was embarrassing to have a local councillor repeatedly letting voters and the party down in this way.

“Combined with the lack of support for Ukip initiatives at KCC and his constant voting with the Conservative administration, it was far from certain that we were going to nominate him to stand for us in the borough elections this May.”

It ended: “We hope Adrian will find a happier home back with the Conservatives who can now spend the next few weeks removing all their nasty comments and digs at him on social media.

“We wonder if Gordon Henderson MP will call for Adrian to put his county seat before the electorate in May in the same way that he did when Adrian defected to Ukip just before the KCC elections.”

Cllr Crowther was not available to comment.