An MP has slammed a councillor for a tweet which she described as “disgusting”and “misogynistic”.

Liberal Democrat councillor Sean Macleod, who represents Ouse Valley and Ringmer, caused uproar after responding to a tweet from Liberal Voice for Women, with the words: “F*** the terfs”.

Liberal Voice for Women says it is a group which aims to “protect and advance the rights and interests of women and girls from within the Liberal Democrats”.

They were discussing a policy which wants current Lib Dem quotas to tackle the "underrepresentation" of women on its committees to reflect the language used to define women by sex in the Equality Act 2010.

The councillor replied to a tweet from the group regarding the Lib Dem conference on Saturday.

The tweet from Liberal Voice for Women said: “A shameful day for our party. Our debate on women’s representation on internal committees was prevented from being heard.”

Cllr Macleod, who is diversity officer for Lewes Lib Dems, has apologised for his reply.

"I apologise for the language I used and immediately deleted my post,” he said.

"I understand the need for discussions on this topic to be respectful and will consider this when posting about my support of rights for trans people."

But Lewes MP Maria Caulfield has called for the whip to be removed from the councillor and branded his words “misogynistic”.

Ms Caulfield said she has been inundated with complaints from constituents about his language.

“I am disgusted at the comments from the Lewes Lib Dem diversity spokesperson Cllr Sean Macleod,” she said.

“I have contacted the leader of the Lewes Lib Dem council to remove the whip from him and to publicly condemn these comments which are misogynistic and an attack on women.

“I have now had complaints from constituents about his latest tweets showing misogynistic behaviour. Behaviour that is completely unacceptable, especially from someone with such power as a councillor.

“Given he is supposed to be the Lib Dem’s diversity officer, is it not time that the whip was withdrawn from him?

“Female constituents are very concerned that this is the view of Lewes District Council and that women are not allowed to stand up for the issues that matter to them.

“It is not good enough for Lewes Lib Dem’s to say he is tweeting in a personal capacity, as he is clearly tweeting as a councillor and in his bio states he is chair of licensing.”

A spokesman from Lewes Lib Dems said: "Sean has apologised and immediately deleted the post."