Councillor slammed in IRA row
A COUNCILLOR has defended a controversial online post claiming Brexit is worse than bombings carried out by the IRA.
The SNP’s Moira Shemilt posted on Twitter that she had “lived through the three-day week, miners’ strike, poll tax, Thatcher, Tory sleaze, Blair’s illegal war, the IRA bombings, horrendous 80s inflation”, adding Brexit was worse “by a country mile”.
Her tweet was met with a furious response from many Twitter users, with one saying: “Here is one of your local councillors who thinks the IRA bombing of innocents wasn’t as bad as Brexit.”
Another said: “To compare the slaughter of tens of thousands in Iraq or the carnage in Northern Ireland by terrorism to Brexit is pathetic and mindless.”
The Livingston South councillor posted a hasty retraction, saying the statement was “cackhanded” and not what she had really meant.
She added: “In no way do I relate horrific loss of life to a constitutional crisis. My thinking was in relation to a turbulent time, which I hope never returns.”
Opposition politicians on West Lothian Council said it was not the first time she had been forced to apologise for a tweet
In August last year, she accused Conservative MP Paul Masterton of gender stereotyping by dressing his daughter in pink.