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Gay marriage legislation is to blame for this winter's heavy rainfall and flooding, a Ukip councillor has claimed.

David Silvester said he warned Prime Minister David Cameron that allowing same-sex couples to get married would lead to "natural disasters".

The councillor for Henley-on-Thames said the law reflected an abandonment of faith, and insisted the miserable weather endured by much of the country this winter is a result of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act being passed.

In a letter to his local newspaper, the Henley Standard, Mr Silvester said: "The scriptures make it abundantly clear that a Christian nation that abandons its faith and acts contrary to the Gospel (and in naked breach of a coronation oath) will be beset by natural disasters such as storms, disease, pestilence and war.

"I wrote to David Cameron in April 2012 to warn him that disasters would accompany the passage of his same sex marriage Bill.

"But he went ahead despite a 600,000-signature petition by concerned Christians and more than half of his own parliamentary party saying that he should not do so.

"Now, even as Cameron sheds crocodile tears on behalf of destitute flooded homeowners, playing at advocate against the very local councils he has made cash-strapped, it is his fault that large swathes of the nation have been afflicted by storms and floods."

Mr Silvester defected from the Tories to UKIP in protest at David Cameron's support for gay marriage.

Speaking of the Prime Minister, he added: "He has arrogantly acted against the Gospel that once made Britain 'great' and the lesson surely to be learned is that no man or men, however powerful, can mess with Almighty God with impunity and get away with it for everything a nation does is weighed on the scaled of divine approval or disapproval.

"Since the passage of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act, the nation has been beset by serious storms and floods.

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"One recent one caused the worst flooding for 60 years. The Christmas floods were the worst for 127 years. Is this just global warming or is there something more serious at work?"

Ukip said the views expressed by Mr Silvester were "not the party's belief" but defended his right to state his opinions.

A party spokeswoman said: "If the media are expecting Ukip to either condemn or condone someone's personal religious views they will get absolutely no response. Whether Jain or Sikh or Buddhist or Sufi or Zoroastrian or Jewish or Muslim or Baptist or Hindu or Catholic or Baha'i or Animist or any other mainstream or minor religion or movement, we are taught as a tolerant society to accept a diversity of ideologies.

"Freedom to individual thought and expression is a central tenet of any open-minded and democratic country. It is quite evident that this is not the party's belief but the councillor's own and he is more than entitled to express independent thought despite whether or not other people may deem it standard or correct.

"That is what makes the United Kingdom such a wonderful, proud, diverse and free country."

Henley's Tory MP John Howell, said: "I thought Mr Silvester's letter was not the sort of thing that he should have written in today's age. He really needs to consider his position."