Grantham Margaret Thatcher statue 'unlikely to be removed'

The statue was spattered with red paint at the weekend, just weeks after it was egged

There is "no prospect" of removing a statue of Margaret Thatcher that has been repeatedly vandalised since it was installed, a councillor has said.

The sculpture depicting the former prime minister was put up in her hometown of Grantham on 15 May.

Within hours it was egged and on Saturday it was spattered with paint.

But a member of South Kesteven District Council said the statue was unlikely to be taken down unless the vandalism became intolerable.

Councillor Ashley Baxter said it was not surprising the £300,000 statue had been vandalised again.

"The council knew before they put it up there would likely be public disorder issues like graffiti and vandalism," he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"There is no prospect of it being taken down unless the level of vandalism and anti-social behaviour gets too much to tolerate.

"It has been put up using private money - I would not want to see public money used to take it down."

The statue was offered to South Kesteven District Council after plans to erect it in London were rejected

Two CCTV cameras and a security barrier were installed to deter acts of vandalism against the statue.

The most recent attack came two weeks after university arts chief Jeremy Webster, 59, was fined £90 for egging the sculpture.

Lincolnshire Police confirmed officers were investigating after reports that graffiti was sprayed on the barriers around the statue at about 23:15 BST on 27 May.

A spokesperson for South Kesteven District Council said it understood "the strength of feeling surrounding the memorial, but strongly condemns the actions of those who seek to damage any public property, or otherwise break the law".

The bronze statue honouring the former prime minister, who died in April 2013, aged 87, stands on a 10ft (3m) high plinth in St Peter's Hill.