Tories drop Harlow councillor for retweeting 'racist' posts

Marco Lorenzini, centre, had won the Bush Fair seat in Harlow, Essex, by four votes on Thursday

The Conservative Party has dropped a newly elected councillor after he was accused of supporting "racist" remarks.

Marco Lorenzini was elected for the Bush Fair seat for Harlow Council in Essex on Thursday.

However, he was said to have retweeted posts that were supportive of a far-right activist and made comments that were described as racist.

The Conservatives removed the whip "immediately" and Mr Lorenzini has stood down as councillor.

Mr Lorenzini has not yet spoken about his social media activity or the actions of the Conservative Party against him.

He has been approached by the BBC for comment.

Mr Lorenzini won the Bush Fair seat by four votes, ahead of the Labour candidate Kay Morrison, as the Tories kept control of the district council.

But it later came to light that a social media account linked to him retweeted what have been described as racist comments.

'Genuinely sickening'

Conservative councillor Dan Swords, who also represents Bush Fair ward, said: "Frankly it's disgusting... and the Conservative leader immediately removed the whip and the individual was removed from our party.

"We will absolutely not accept racism in any form; it's genuinely sickening to read, and we acted immediately."

He said it "should never have happened" but all applicants were asked to supply their social media accounts for vetting and in this case "the candidate claimed he did not have any social media accounts".

"Vetting was carried out regardless and I understand at the time that he was using an unusual Twitter handle at the time that meant, despite extensive searches, nothing appeared but over the weekend he changed his Twitter handle which made the account identifiable," he added.

Mr Lorenzini could have sat as an independent, but Harlow Council said he resigned "with immediate effect" on Tuesday.

Chris Vince, leader of the council's Labour group, said he was "absolutely shocked and appalled" by the social media activity.

He said Mr Lorenzini "clearly wouldn't have been elected had these tweets come to light sooner" and it was "not indicative of Harlow, which is a diverse and very inclusive place".

"I'm pleased that the Conservative Party has been quick to withdraw the whip, but I do have to question that vetting process - how have they got this candidate they seem to know very little about?" said Mr Vince.

"I'm glad he's no longer going to be a councillor."

A by-election will take place for the seat on a date yet to be fixed.