A social media outburst by a New Forest councillor which saw her label Ian Wright a 'typical black hypocrite' has led to the county council changing its rules.

Hampshire’s county councillors will now be told to consider resigning if they make publicly racist or discriminatory comments after Alexis McEvoy made the remark aimed at the football pundit on X, formerly Twitter.

The March 2023 outburst came at the height of the controversy involving Match of the Day host Gary Lineker, who spoke out against the Rwanda immigration plans.

READ MORE: New Forest Tory councillor resigns after Ian Wright tweet

He was briefly suspended in a move that led to Mr Wright refusing to appear on the show in an act of solidarity.

Cllr McEvoy's tweet contrasted his reaction with an alleged lack of support for other pundits involved in previous disputes with their employers.

The backlash from her comment saw her quit several public roles, including the New Forest National Park Authority board, and resign from the Conservative party.

Daily Echo: Alexis McEvoy has been suspended after tweeting about TV pundit Ian Wright Image: PAThe rule changes, which came into affect from Tuesday, saw Cllr Arun Mummalaneni appointed the county council's anti-racism champion.

It also includes an update to how the council investigates and deals with complaints of councillors breaking the code of conduct around racist or discriminatory comments.

If the council finds that a councillor has aired “unlawfully discriminatory beliefs in public”, it will be able to tell them to “consider resigning from office”, the new clause added to council rules said.

These cross-party proposals were voted through unanimously by councillors at their annual general meeting in May last year.

Paul Hodgson, the council’s head of legal services, said the code of conduct only applies when the councillor is “effectively acting in the course of the role as councillor”.

He added: “If a councillor says something on Twitter but not in the role as a councillor, that mostly will not engage the code of conduct at all.”

Since her X publication, Cllr McEvoy has apologised to the former player, which was received as a “fake apology”.

In an angry response, Wright hit back at the councillor, saying: “There is one person that I want to address directly: the Hampshire councillor Alexis McEvoy.

“I just want to say to her: please just keep your fake apology to yourself.

“‘I don’t give a ras about your apology – whether you disagree with my stance, whether you agree – but a ‘black hypocrite’? A ‘typical black hypocrite’?”

He continued: “I want to read her statement.”

Cllr McEvoy still sits on the county council as an unaffiliated member and participates in different committees such as the Corporate Parenting Board and the River Hamble Harbour Management Committee.

She is no longer a New Forest District Councillor.