Renewed calls for race joke former Mayor to quit

Labour's Coun. Mohammed Iqbal stated that his Tory opponent's position was untenable and that she had broken the councillor's code of conduct.

The Burnley Express revealed last week that Earby Coun. Carroll had shared the derogatory joke on her Facebook page, something she claimed was a mistake and has since apologised for.

Coun. Iqbal said: "I, along with other individuals, made a formal complaint to Pendle Council that Coun. Carroll had broken the Code of Conduct for councillors.

"She had until 5pm on Friday July 7th to contact the council's monitoring officer Philip Mousdale and respond to the complaint. She clearly has chosen to ignore this which further questions her position as a senior councillor and I would publicly call on her to resign from the council.

"I have also today written to the leader of the Conservative group, Coun. Joe Cooney, calling upon him to publicly kick her out of the Conservative party and join with me in the call for her to go.

"Coun. Carroll is making inexcusable points trying to justify her behaviour and it's quite simply unacceptable "

Philip Mousdale, Pendle Council’s corporate director, said: “I can confirm I will carry out a Code of Conduct investigation into the complaints I’ve received about Coun. Rosemary Carroll’s Facebook post.

“I cannot say at this stage how long it will take.”