Tory councillor Elfan Ap Rees accused of being a 'despicable racist'

Elfan Ap Rees denied he had been racist and said he "stated a historical fact"

A Tory councillor has been accused of being a "despicable racist" after claiming slaves brought to Britain had "a better life than staying in Africa".

Elfan Ap Rees is a former North Somerset councillor and now a Locking parish councillor.

He said while there was "some cruelty" during the slave trade there "was worse among the white poor living in slum conditions of the time".

Mr Ap Rees denied he had been racist and said he "stated a historical fact".

"I don't think [it] is racist, that if you think back to that period of history, there were white people living in Bristol and elsewhere living in equally bad if not worse conditions," he added.

"People think of the past being all nice and wonderful but we know that wasn't true."

Mr Ap Rees wrote the tweet, which has since been removed, in response to one about the BBC Two programme A House Through Time, which on Tuesday explored Bristol's slave trade past.

Historian David Olusoga was at No 10 Guinea Street, a road named after the Guinea coast in west Africa - a hub of the international slave trade.

Olusoga discovers how the house was built by the 18th Century slave trader Edmund Saunders and learns of Bristol's role as a slave-trading port.

David Olusoga said Mr Ap Rees's view was "ill informed"

In the tweet, Mr Ap Rees said Bristol needed to "get over" its history as part of the slave trade.

"Its history and most slaves were sold by their fellow African tribes to visiting ships and had a better life than staying in Africa. Some cruelty yes but there was worse among the White poor living in slum conditions of the time," Mr Ap Rees' tweet said.

The Weston Labour Party responded, saying: "Thank goodness this despicable racist no longer represents us on @NorthsomersetCouncil. How the @Conservatives can justify him remaining a member after his repeated racist comments is beyond us."

The Conservatives have been approached for a comment.

Olusoga also responded saying: "What a cliched, unoriginal, unlettered and ill informed response."