A LABOUR councillor who said a film had made him want to 'burn every single Oxford college to the ground, preferably with every single Tory MP inside one of them' has apologised.

Owen Collins, who was elected to West Oxfordshire District Council and Witney Town Council in May, posted the tweets on Saturday evening.

Mr Collins said he regretted the 'thoughtless, and obviously flippant, comments'.

He has been reported to the Labour Party by his town council group leader.

Mr Collins said watching the film The Riot Club – which is set in an all-male and exclusive dining club at Oxford University – had provoked his fury.

He added on Saturday: "The Conservative Party is a cancer on this country. It always has been and always will be."

West Oxfordshire Council's Conservative deputy leader, Toby Morris, said: "This is frankly shocking and disturbing and I wonder what the people who elected Councillor Collins would make of it."

He added: "The inability to respect someone who holds a different view is so sad."

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Rosa Bolger, the leader of Witney Town Council, said: “We condemn any messages of this nature and want to make clear it is not representative of who we are either as Witney Labour or the wider party. The complaint has been referred to the Labour Party for investigation where we trust it will be dealt with appropriately.”

In a statement, Mr Collins said: "Recent tweets of mine contained thoughtless, and obviously flippant, comments, the content and tone of which I regret.

"With that in mind, I have deleted the tweets in question and I sincerely apologise to anyone who has been offended by them."

Witney Town Council said the comments had not broken its code of conduct. The district council said it had not received any complaints about Mr Collins' messages.