Welsh councillor stands down after saying ‘all Tories should be shot’

The deputy leader of a Welsh council has stepped down for saying ‘all Tories should be shot’.

Ieuan Williams, an independent councillor in Anglesey, North Wales, referred himself to the Standards Committee and apologised for the comment.

He said it in reaction to hearing food bank use had increased by 99% in Anglesey since November 2022.

Mr Williams said: ‘I apologise profusely for any offence caused by my inappropriate comment.

‘The remark was made at the end of an emotionally charged statement, following a presentation on poverty on Anglesey.

‘I am obviously not advocating shooting anyone and have apologised to all members present at the meeting.

‘I have also referred myself to the Standards Committee and have stood down as deputy leader and member of the executive whilst any potential investigation takes place.’

But he hopes others will see the real issue is his ‘passion in fighting the corner of the most vulnerable in our society against a party which seems happy to forget about them’.

Tory MP for Anglesey Virginia Crosbie called the remark ‘appalling’ and said she already wears a stab-proof vest.

She branded the comment ‘disgusting’ and said she had been the target of ‘nastiness’ from Plaid Cymru and other councillors since 2019.

The MP called for council leader Llinos Medi to ‘get her house in order and stop this behaviour’.

‘This is not the rough and tumble of political life, this is out-and-out hate,’ she said.

‘Councillor Williams knows I wear a stab vest at surgeries but still he casually remarks I and others who are Conservative should be shot.

‘Two MPs have lost their lives in the last seven years and still he thinks saying such things is OK.’

Tory Welsh minister Sam Rowlands called the comments ‘dreadful and completely inexcusable’.

‘The left often like to virtue signal about a kinder, gentler politics but then come out with comments like this,’ he said.

Mr Williams’s comments come seven years after Labour MP Jo Cox was killed by a white supremacist during a terrorist attack.

Conservative MP David Ames was killed in October 2021 by an Islamic extremist.

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