Ex-Kingshurst councillor faces calls to resign over anti-Muslim retweets

A FORMER Kingshurst & Fordbridge councillor has been suspended by his party after retweeting a string of inflammatory comments.
Jeff Potts has had the Conservative whip withdrawn after it emerged that he had shared the anti-Islamic tirades.
One of the posts he retweeted said: "Deport and repatriate all Muslims from the UK or watch terrorists kill innocent people for generations to come."
Screengrabs of his social media feed shown to Other Side of Solihull also revealed highly-charged retweets focused on sex abuse scandals and ISIS. Some of the content has since been deleted.
The vice-chair of the planning committee, who also sits on the borough's religious education committee, told the Birmingham Mail that his page made clear that he did not endorse retweets.
The leader of Solihull Council, Bob Sleigh, has confirmed that a full investigation will now take place, although some opposition members have suggested that Coun Potts should resign.
Coun James Burn (Green, Chelmsley Wood) said: "His position is untenable. When you start retweeting things about deporting all Muslims you are publicising views that are very close to crossing a legal line and encouraging hatred.
"I’m afraid to say I don’t think he has any other choice but to resign. By retweeting, you are spreading that view and information."
Coun Potts was previously a Labour councillor, before defecting to the Tories in 2004 - blaming in-fighting within his old party. Today he represents Knowle ward.
The controversy comes only a couple of months after another councillor, Ken Hawkins, was embroiled in a row over a tweet relating to the Grenfell Tower fire.
Coun Hawkins was later instructed to undergo social media training by a Code of Conduct panel