A CONSERVATIVE council candidate has been criticised for using “foul and abusive” language on Twitter.

Zoe Kirk-Robinson is standing for the Tories in the Westhoughton North and Chew Moor ward in the local elections this Thursday.

The Bolton Labour group has called for Ms Kirk-Robinson to show “more awareness” after she posted a foul-mouthed rant on Twitter complaining about the difficulty of filling out tax return forms.

The Tory candidate, who is the founder of T-Vox, a transgender and intersex support organisation, said: "I apologise unreservedly for any offence my comments have caused.

“I deleted the tweets in question very quickly and the only responses I received were messages of shared frustration with the small business tax return form.

"I completely accept it was wrong of me to vent my frustrations so publicly and in that manner.”

A statement from the Labour party said: “Anyone who decides to run for office needs a degree of awareness about their behaviour because they are in the public spotlight.

“Foul and abusive language is not what people expect of their political representatives on the council."

The Bolton News: OUTBURST: Zoe Kirk-Robinson's Twitter rant

The borough’s Conservative group has defended its candidate and accused the Labour group of pre-election “mud-slinging”.

Cllr David Greenhalgh, leader of the Conservative group, said: "Much as I have also been extremely frustrated when filling in my tax returns, I have never quite resorted to using such language over them, and I do not condone the language Zoe has used.

“David Cameron commented about Twitter a few years ago about what you can look like when you tweet — and Zoe has learnt a valuable lesson.

“Zoe is a young, enthusiastic politician, eager to make a difference, who will learn the hard way of the expectation of the press and public, that politicians must be “squeaky clean”.

“She will also learn that Labour will use everything they can against her to try and take votes away from her in a seat that Labour is narrowly defending.

“The voters of Westhoughton North and Chew Moor, I’m sure, will recognise Labour’s desperation, and not be taken in by this mud-slinging.

He added: “The Labour Party became aware of these tweets, as did I, more than three weeks ago.

"I immediately spoke to Zoe, who apologised for her uncharacteristic outburst, deleted them, and assured me it would never happen again.

“Am I being cynical that the Labour Party machine, after seeing that things were not going their way, has waited until a few days before polling day to use this as a political weapon against a young woman seeking to enter local politics?”