AN official complaint has been made about an allegedly ‘anti-Semitic’ Facebook post by a senior Labour councillor.

Blackburn with Darwen Borough’s deputy leader Cllr Andy Kay linked to a 2014 article in the Guardian headlined ‘Gaza’s only power plant destroyed in Israel’s most intense airstrike yet’ and commented: ‘The Jewish state has learnt nothing from the Nazis and the Jewish leaders are worse than the Nazis.’

Blackburn Labour candidate Kate Hollern gave the post a ‘thumbs up’ and it was liked by three of the party’s councillors.

Its emergence in a national newspaper on Thursday forced Mrs Hollern to issue an apology.

She said: “I am sincerely sorry for having engaged with this post. I don’t remember engaging with it at all, but I imagine I would have seen the Guardian article headline, without reading this person’s comment, which is clearly unacceptable and deeply hurtful and offensive.”

Conservative councillor Paul Marrow has asked borough chief executive Denise Park to launch an official standards investigation into Cllr Kay’s post which he said had ‘brought the council into disrepute.

Cllr Kay said: “I have no comment to make.”

Blackburn Conservative Association chairman Julian Arnold called for the suspension of Cllr Kay and the three councillors who like the ‘alleged anti-Semitic’ post and an immediate investigation.

Ms Park confirmed that a formal acknowledgement has been sent.

She said: “We are following the normal procedure which is clearly set out in the Council’s constitution.”