A COUNCILLOR is calling on residents in her ward to look at her work in the community after a controversial social media post resurfaced from three years ago.

Newton Aycliffe town councillor, Kathy Beetham, has spoken out after a personal Facebook post from 2016, was recently shared on a community Facebook page.

The post followed the Brexit referendum and was an expletive filled rant against leave voters branding them racist.

The post also told Brexiteers to take their county back as it meant 'jack sh*t now'.

Cllr Beetham said: "It was the day after the Brexit vote and I woke up and discovered that remain had lost. I had a bit of abuse online from various people and it was just an emotional outburst.

"This post has been repeatedly alluded to and when it was first referred to I responded with a public apology to anyone who was offended by it – an apology I also repeated on social media.

"I think a lot of people thought I said Brexitors should be gassed but I said I hoped they're 'gassed first' because of my concerns about a rise in hate crime and a rise in the far right.

"Someone took a photo of the post and sat on it until I became a councillor when it resurfaced - I'd like to draw a line under it once and for all.

"I cannot constantly apologise for, or change, a post I made three years ago before I stood for public office.

"I hope my record as a town councillor for the last two years and my achievements regarding successfully fighting to get the rainbow flag flown in Aycliffe, bee hives on the allotments, progress towards gender balance on the Great Aycliffe Town Council and my recent proposal to reduce the use of single use plastic is the record I should be judged on."

Critics took to social media following the social media post and said it had anti-Semitic undertones.

One comment read: "For reference this is Cllr Kathy Beetham making these disgusting anti-Semetic messages."

Fellow town councillor John Clare said: "It is distressing that this single unacceptable statement, out-of-character and written years ago – before Cllr Beetham even became a councillor – is being used to undermine the important issues she is raising in the council."

The post was later taken down by the user who posted it.