A TOP city councillor could face disciplinary action after calling a member of the British National Party a "Nazi" and using an insult referring to sexual orientation.

Labour group leader Cllr Tudor Evans made the comment on his social networking page Twitter, sparking outrage among his political opponents.

He was hitting out at BNP member Adrian Romilly, who was a candidate for the controversial far-right party in the European elections earlier this month.

The pair clashed at the last ever meeting of Plymouth and South West Co-operative Society, where a 95.1 per cent majority of members voted to merge with the giant Co-operative Group.

During the meeting Cllr Evans tweeted: "Nazi (derogatory insult) trying to stop the merger. So far he's got slow handclapped and ironic hand claps when he sat down."

He was referring to Mr Romilly's calls for the meeting to allow all 300,000 regional Co-Op members to vote on the plans, rather than just those present at the meeting.

But Cllr Evans' post triggered a barrage of complaints, with council leader Vivien Pengelly saying she had spoken to people who were "appalled" at the language used.

Cllr Pengelly has now asked Plymouth City Council chief executive Barry Keel to launch an inquiry into the matter.

That could result in Cllr Evans being reported to the Standards Board for England, the local government watchdog.

He told The Herald he hoped the Twitter scandal would not overshadow what had been a positive step forward for Plymouth's Co-Operative services.

Cllr Evans said: "This was a comment I made on my personal web page.

"Romilly doesn't want the Co-op amalgamation and said that it shouldn't be done without a postal ballot.

"For a bloke who is pro-British he's got a strange understanding of the British law, which has been made by British parliamentarians.

"People gave him the slow handclap and there were huge ironic cheers when he stepped down.

"That's what happened, but we wouldn't want it to overshadow the news of the amalgamation."

Mr Romilly, who lived abroad shortly before moving to Plymouth, insisted he was not upset by either the "Nazi" accusation nor the insult.

"What an imagination," he said. "Sometimes you have to laugh – and I'm not going to be offended by anything Tudor Evans says."

Cllr Pengelly would not comment further than to say: "I have asked the chief executive to investigate this matter."