A RENFREWSHIRE councillor has apologised after coming under fire for comparing government cuts to rape.
Jim Sheridan made the remark on Facebook, just weeks after being reinstated to the Labour Party after an investigation into alleged anti-Semetic comments, also posted on social media.
Opposition politicians called on the former MP and now Houston, Crosslee and Linwood representative to stand down for his “disgusting and misogynistic” remarks.
READ MORE: Calls for Renfrewshire councillor to resign after comparing budget cuts to rape
While the Labour man initially refused to delete the post and argued he was using the term to mean the “plundering of resources”, he has since removed it and apologised.
He said: “I have deleted my offensive post about the SNP’s council cuts. It was wrong to use that kind of language and I apologise.
“The facts are bad enough without having to resort to the words I used and I don’t want anything to detract from that.”
READ MORE: Linwood councillor reinstated after anti-Semitism probe
Cllr Sheridan’s successor in the Paisley and Renfrewshire North seat at Westminster, Gavin Newlands, had called for him to be booted out of Labour. The SNP man told The Gazette:
“Councillor Sheridan’s latest outburst is quite frankly disgusting and beneath contempt.
“This language is diminishing of the suffering of survivors and victims of gender-based violence and is indefensible.”
A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: “Jim Sheridan has rightly deleted the post and apologised.”
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