A STANDARDS chief has apologised for calling his colleagues "dumb" after formal complaints were lodged against him.

Labour Brighton and Hove City Councillor Daniel Yates issued a lengthy apology to fellow councillors after he branded them "dumb" in a Tweet.

Cllr Yates is now the second Labour member to say sorry for rude comments made about fellow councillors this month.

Earlier in November, Carmen Appich apologised after branding her colleague, Kate Knight, a "b***h" during a Zoom meeting where she thought she was on mute.

READ MORE >> Labour councillor sorry for calling colleague a b*tch on Zoom

Standards chief Cllr Yates faced a record number of complaints after comments made earlier this year.

In July, the city council went Green after a week of shock Labour resignations and suspensions amid anti-Semitism accusations.

Councillor Nichole Brennan quit the party just hours after another Brighton and Hove City Labour councillor, Kate Knight, resigned over the sharing of alleged anti-Semitic posts.

Their departure came less than a week after the Labour administration was rocked by the suspension of one of its leading councillors, Anne Pissaridou, over the sharing of allegedly anti-Semitic material on social media.

Responding to a Twitter comment at the time, Labour Cllr Yates tweeted: “Well if three dumb councillors hadn’t said or done offensively dumb and discriminatory things and then two of them run away.”

Another complaint related to a comment made to Brighton and Hove News. In an article about the suspension of Labour members in the city, he said: “I’m connected to the mains sewerage.

“Under new management, Keir is pressure washing away the detritus.”

Cllr Yates, chairman of the council's audit and standards committee, has now apologised for the remarks.

He said: "In July 2020 I made a public tweet and also gave a quote to a local media outlet regarding two separate issues which I feel strongly about.

"I used the word ‘dumb’ when referring to three unnamed BHCC councillors and the words ‘main sewerage’ and ‘detritus’ in relation to the process of removing the scourge of Antisemitism from the Labour Party.

"I accept that my use of those words caused offence and am sorry for the distress they caused.

"I particularly regret any impression given that my tweet and/or comment were offensive, discriminatory or disrespectful toward the unnamed councillors, and that I used language which appeared to refer to people in disrespectful or inappropriate terms.

"That was not my intention I removed my tweet within one day, realising it was badly worded, and have since taken into account the complaints received in about my conduct.

"Whilst I stand by the principles I articulated and the sentiments I expressed, I fully acknowledge that I should have chosen different words to express my views.

"I have co-operated fully with the council’s Standards process and am committed to articulating my position in future in language which does not risk offending people in the above way."