A ‘RACIST’ councillor has been asked to resign from Almondsbury Parish Council following backlash from a controversial tweet.

The tweet from UKIP Cllr Philip Winter on February 11, which has since been deleted, said: “We had same organised Communism by darkies former Empire at Oxford! Cecil Rhodes statue is still their [sic]!! I would deport buggers."

The slur from the councillor was in response to Yale University in America announcing plans to rename residential halls, distancing themselves from a recognised white supremacist, causing a great deal of backlash.

Almondsbury Parish Council have said they have received around 100 complaints from parish residents, with no comments in support.

South Gloucestershire Council having reported it to police, who have said it has been recorded as a hate incident.

A resolution, put forward by vice-chairman Cllr John Calver, and seconded by chairman Cllr Phil Hall, asked for Cllr Winter’s resignation in light of the behaviour, and was voted for unanimously at a special meeting this evening.

Cllr Winter was not present for the vote, and has previously claimed his account had been hacked.

“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion no matter how differing it is from our own,” said Cllr Calver.

“However there comes a point when they are so abhorrent, so racist, so sexist and so homophobic they cannot be tolerated.

“The strength in depth of complaints to the views of Cllr Winter are damaging to this council and to Almondsbury as a community”

Regarding the hacking, councillors said that the content was not dissimilar to what had previously been put on his social media accounts and that if someone planned to hack him, something to the contrary would have been put. 

Cllr Hall said that he had written to his colleague asking for his resignation but said that he had received no response.

“He has brought the entire parish into disrepute,” said Cllr Hall. “To read it was crushing, and let me to write to him asking to resign.

“My letter to him from me has asked him to do the right thing, but we have had nothing back, no communication from him.”

But even though the resolution was accepted, as Cllr Winter is an elected official, the council do not have the ability to remove him and so must wait on a decision from South Gloucestershire Council’s monitoring office.