A LONG-serving councillor has been suspended ­— for the second time ­— after a social media outburst.

Cllr Bob Allen, Conservative councillor for Heaton and Lostock, took to Facebook soon after the Government reinstated lockdown measures on Thursday night ­— with his comments appearing to blame the whole of the black and minority ethnic communities (BAME) for the second lockdown.

The post caused outrage among his constituents, with letters of complaint also being sent to councillors about the posts.

Those angered by the post have pointed to the fact that many people from black and minority ethnic groups have died caring for patients with the virus.

Cllr Allen also targets the Chinese and criticises his own Government.

Following a meeting of officers ­— Cllr Martyn Cox, Cllr Mudasir Dean, Cllr David Greenhalgh, Cllr Stuart Haslam, Cllr Andy Morgan and Cllr Wild ­— in the ruling Tory administration, Cllr Allen was suspended.

Cllr Haslam, secretary of the group, said: "Following a meeting of the Elected Officers of the Conservative Group on Bolton Council, held today (Friday) at the earliest opportunity, and following a series of formal complaints against Cllr Bob Allen regarding the contents of a Facebook post, it was unanimously agreed that with immediate effect, Cllr Allen be suspended from the Group, and within 21 days a meeting of the full Conservative group will take place where Cllr Allen will be invited to attend and present his case.

"There will then follow a decision on what appropriate course of action should be taken, determined by a vote of the full Conservative Group."

Cllr Allen's post reads: “Don’t penalise me over the increase in covid cases in Greater Manchester.

" I’ve stuck to the rules for four long months.

"Blame the 48,000 illegal immigrants, the BAME community and the morons that never obey the rules. Blame the Public Health England (PHE) idiots who wrongly advised us, blame NHS managers who were totally unprepared, blame the Chinese for concealing the true facts and blame the government for not stopping thousands of flights into the UK from infected countries.

"We are being led by donkeys.”

Cllr Bob Allen has apologised for any offence caused ­— but stood by his post.

He said: “A disproportionate number of BAME people have been fined for breaking lockdown rules, suggesting that some members of that community have inadvertently helped to spread the virus. There are of course many others who have flouted the rules but the BAME group have been particularly identified in the national media.

" I blame lots of people and groups for our current crisis and I remain convinced that from the outset the pandemic could have been better managed. For example it is unbelievable that throughout April and May we continued to allow dozens of incoming flights every day from countries badly affected by the virus. PHE, whose job is to protect us from such infections, failed to give correct advice to the government and failed abysmally to provide sufficient PPE.”

He added he had respect for those working through the pandemic helping to save lives. In 2009 Cllr Allen was suspended by his party following a row over an internet blog after he posted a picture of a gorilla next to a story about a fellow councillor.