Tory councillor branded ‘xenophobic’ after Twitter storm

A Conservative Councillor in North Ayrshire has been slammed after a number of social media posts that have been called xenophobic for calling into question the opinion of an SNP colleague who was born in Holland.

Todd Ferguson tweeted on Saturday evening: “JoyoftheSNP, a fellow Cllr, went on a witch hunt when I asked why she wanted to break up the U.K. being from the EU. Despite living in this country for seven years, she is not a citizen, but is happily pocketing two tax payer funded jobs via the SNP.”

This was a reference to Joy Brahim, an SNP councillor in North Ayrshire who also works for local MSP Kenneth Gibson.

It was reported that Cllr Ferguson had previous form for similar comments, having apologised last year to Cllr Brahim after suggesting her opinion on Scottish politics was irrelevant as she was Dutch.

Cllr Brahim told the Daily Record: “Todd Ferguson was condemned last year for his xenophobic comments, yet the North Ayrshire Tories made him depute leader.

“He has been actively trying to discredit me on social media purely because I am an EU citizen. It is time for him to resign.”

Todd Ferguson deleted his Twitter account, and said the tweet had been taken out of context.