Suffolk and Ipswich councillor resigns over racist posts

Robin Vickery has stood down from two councils and from the Conservative Party

A councillor has resigned from two councils and as a member of the Conservative Party after sharing racist messages on social media.

Robin Vickery, a Suffolk County and Ipswich Borough councillor, shared a post calling for black and Asian people to be deported.

The county council said it had received more than 620 complaints about his actions.

Mr Vickery said he was "looking forward to my retirement".

He was due to retire in May next year and said he would not be commenting further on the posts.

The Conservative groups on both authorities suspended Mr Vickery and launched an investigation when they were made aware of the social media posts.

He also reposted two messages on Facebook comparing the reaction to the death of George Floyd with the murder of Lee Rigby.

Dr Dan Poulter, the MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, said the posts "on the face of it, individually and collectively, appear to be racist and this is completely unacceptable".

"That behaviour has no place in any civilised [political] party"," he said.

It came after thousands of people attended largely peaceful anti-racism protests across the UK over the weekend, including in London, Manchester and Glasgow.

About 1,000 people gathered in Christchurch Park in Ipswich as part of a Black Lives Matter protest on Saturday.