PRESSURE is mounting on a town mayor after an MP joined calls for him to step down.

MP for Sedgefield, Phil Wilson, said Ferryhill Mayor, Richard Smith, should “seriously consider his position” following posts he made on Facebook about gay people and Islam.

Mr Wilson said: “I think he should seriously consider his position as I don’t think there’s any room in modern politics for those kind of views, whether they were on a private Facebook page or not because once it’s there, it’s there.

“It’s in the public domain, he’s said it, and when you’re in a public position in public life, you have got to be really careful because whatever you say will be seen to be your belief and in this case they are.”

Calls have been made for Councillor Smith to resign following the posts the Christian preacher made to his Facebook page last week which included sharing a post entitled Why Homosexuality Is Not Like Other Sins and a video headlined Group of Muslims attack a Jewish family and their little children.

Cllr Smith has since deleted the posts but in responding to calls for him to resign, said he had nothing to add from his original statement.

In it, he said: “I won’t apologise for the conviction of my faith but I do regret any offence or harm caused as this was absolutely not my intention.”

Mr Wilson said Cllr Smith’s views were unacceptable in public life on both a national and local level.

“I have been pretty consistent about this before and gone public about anti-Semitism in the Labour Party,” he added.

Following the row, civic dignitaries from the surrounding areas have withdrawn their support for Cllr Smith.

Barnard Castle mayor Sandra Moorhouse and deputy mayor John Blissett confirmed on Tuesday that they would not be attending any events hosted by Cllr Smith.

A statement released by Bishop Auckland mayor, David Fleming, yesterday, confirmed he would not just refuse to go to any of his events but had also withdrawn any invitations to the mayor to his own events.

He said: “Bishop Auckland Town Council also will not be supporting Clr Smith in his year of office as the mayor of Ferryhill due to his unacceptable beliefs as published on social media.”

Ferryhill Town clerk, Derek Snowball, also released a statement yesterday.

He said: "The town clerk and all town council staff wish it to be made clear and known that they fully embrace and embed equality and diversity in their employment and roles at Ferryhill Town Council and act with integrity at all times.The actions and/or comments of any town councillor are not the views of town council staff."