Pembrokeshire County Councillor Paul Dowson’s public statements criticising the Black Lives Matter movement should be formally investigated by the council, according to UNISON.

The trade union said Clr. Dowson’s use of a phrase adopted by the racist Klu Klux Klan was deeply offensive when people around the world were united in protest at police brutality and the murder of George Floyd.

UNISON has questioned whether the councillor is fit to hold public office, after he used his Facebook page to attack county councillor Josh Beynon’s suggestion County Hall in Haverfordwest could be lit up in support of Black Lives Matter’s commemoration of Mr Floyd’s death.

UNISON has stated that Clr. Dowson posted that ‘White lives matter’ - known as a white supremacist phrase which originated in 2015 as a racist response to protests against police brutality against Black-Americans in the USA.

Manuela Hughes, UNISON Pembrokeshire branch chair said: “The Black Lives Matter movement has shown everyone that racism is rife in society. Black people are more likely to have been subjected to police brutality, more likely to live in poverty and more likely to be unemployed as a result of systemic racism. Their contribution is often written out of the history of this country.

“Black workers have been disproportionately affected by Covid-19 and in the NHS, care and transport sectors, Black people have paid with their lives for caring for the whole community.

“This is the climate in which Clr. Dowson made his comments. He has brought Pembrokeshire County Council into disrepute. It is important that everyone stands together against racism and the council must formally investigate his behaviour.”

Clr. Dowson who represents the Pembroke Dock Central Ward on PCC, this week resigned as a governor of Ysgol Harri Tudur in Pembroke, following the controversy.