A CONSERVATIVE councillor has said she is "deeply sorry" after publishing an 'offensive' tweet.

Alexis McEvoy faced backlash over the weekend over a tweet she wrote about football pundit Ian Wright.

The New Forest district councillor for Fawley, Blackfield & Langley described Mr Wright as a "typical black hypocrite" in her tweet which included a devil's face emoji. The tweet has since been deleted.

The Conservative councillor had quote tweeted another person's post with a video of Mr Wright from August 2020 when Southampton FC legend Matt Le Tissier and two others left Sky Sports show Soccer Saturday.

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Twitter users were drawing comparisons between Mr Wright's reaction to Le Tissier's sacking due to staff cuts and his staunch defence of colleague Mr Lineker.

Cllr McEvoy - a statement issued by a Tory councillor colleague to the Echo - said she is "deeply sorry."

She said: "I am aware that a tweet I sent, and then deleted, has caused offence.  

"I did not mean it to do so and I am deeply sorry.  

"I find racism in any form abhorrent, I have therefore reported myself to the Monitoring Officer at both Hampshire County Council and New Forest District Council.

"I have suspended myself from both the Conservative Groups at New Forest District Council and Hampshire County Council pending investigations.”

A spokesperson for Hampshire County Council said: “The authority takes complaints against members very seriously and any complaint about this matter will be dealt with in accordance with the council’s arrangements for dealing with complaints against members.”

Cllr McEvoy is the Hampshire County Council division member for South Waterside.

She was first elected to New Forest District Council in May 2007, and was first elected to Hampshire County Council in 1997.

Cllr McEvoy lost her county council seat to a candidate from Nigel Farage's party Ukip in 2013 before regaining four years later.

After losing her seat she launched a broadside at then-Prime Minister and Tory leader David Cameron.

She said: ''For some unknown reason, David Cameron and his advisers seem to think that a lot of Conservative voters' values are out of date and need to be modernised and thrown out.''

She added: ''We stood up for things in the past. We don't stand up for anything any more.''