THE organisers of Brexit debate who dropped a Lib Dem politician from the event at the last minute have spoken out about the decision.

Catherine Bearder, an MEP for the South East, was booked to be part of a panel discussion on the topic 'Brexit and Poland: Friends or Foes' with Conservative MP Daniel Kawczynski.

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But on Friday Ms Bearder's team received an email from organisers saying they would have to cancel her appearance 'due to circumstances beyond our control' and when pressed said it was due to 'negative attention' from a tweet she had sent.

The offending tweet said: "I'm debating Daniel Kawczynski MP in Oxford this Saturday in front of Polish university students studying in the UK. When I say debating, I mean trying to put the little unicorns Daniel lets free every now and then back in their stables."

A statement from the Congress of Polish Student Societies in the UK committee said they worried the tweet indicated internal politics would 'overshadow' the event, which annually gathers hundreds of students from the country studying at universities in the UK to hear about issues impacting them.

They said: "We decided to change one of guest speakers - Mrs Catherine Bearder - collectively, as the Conference’s organising committee.

"An online exchange, primarily concerned with issues irrelevant to the Polish student community in the UK, caused concerns that the panel debate would be overshadowed by issues specific to internal British political controversies, however topical."

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After Ms Bearder shared her frustration with the decision, and initial lack of explanation from organisers, on social media organisers were accused of 'censorship', especially as Mr Kawczynski has also faced controversy over tweets on the topic of Brexit.

They committee said: "We strongly deny the charges of stifling free speech, let alone censorship.

"We are deeply committed to free speech and consider it to be an important part of our identity as a student body.

"In organising the conference, we are doing our utmost to ensure that the conditions for free debate are ensured and that a range of views are duly represented."

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They added: "We therefore invited Mr Stefan Kasprzyk, a Liberal Democrat and a vocal supporter of the Remain campaign, to represent views that are opposed to Mr Kawczynski's. We therefore consider the charges to be unfounded.

"While we regret Mrs Catherine Bearder tweeted a private e-mail exchange with a member of our team, we would like to apologise to her for the manner in which we communicated the change of arrangements to her, and any upset or embarrassment caused."

The committee concluded that organisers now 'consider the matter closed'.

Ms Bearder has said she will be writing to the Oxford University Chancellor on about the event, which was hosted by the Oxford University Polish Society.