Burnley UKIP councillor apologises for 'third party' Facebook sharing of Islamophobic video

Coun. Alan Hosker, who became the first UK Independence Party councillor to be elected to the council in 2015, is alleged to have shared a Unity News Network video from a Tommy Robinson protest in London in March, which contained offensive Islamophobic chanting.

A Burnley Council investigation is still ongoing after a complaint was lodged in June.

Coun. Hosker, who also serves on Lancashire County Council as well as the Hapton with Park ward, issued the following statement this week on his Facebook page.

He said: “I have requested that on Thursday at the full council meeting in Preston an apology be read out for a post shared on our Facebook page regarding the Tommy Robinson protest march on March 9th 2018.

“It was shared by a third party and I was not aware of the post or its contents at the time.

“However, as it was on one of my pages I share part of the responsibility and as such am sorry for any upset caused by the language used.

“The third party that shared this post shared did so without listening to its contents.”

Coun. Hosker is also expected to apologise at this Thursday's meeting of Lancashire County Council at which Rossendale Conservative County Coun. Peter Steen has raised a question for the meeting calling for the "appalling and offensive language" in the post to be condemned.