Kingston’s UKIP branch secretary has been criticised by borough councillors after posting a series of anti-immigration posts on his Facebook page.

Mr Bellamy, who lives in Surbiton and ran for the Hook Rise and Tolworth council seat in 2010, shared a post on Tuesday that read: "It’s not immigration, it’s not asylum seeking. It’s an invasion. It’s time to wake up."

The post came after failed Wimbledon UKIP parliamentary candidate Peter Bucklitsch tweeted that a dead Syrian toddler’s parents were to blame for his death after becoming too "greedy" and "queue-jumping" into Europe.

Mr Bellamy said: "It is my private Facebook account and I am entitled to my opinion. I lived in the Middle East for two years and have friends that are Muslim.

"I am not against people in real need. That post is aimed at the single men queuing up at Calais. It is an invasion."

But Kingston councillors have been quick to criticise Mr Bellamy.

Liberal Democrat leader Liz Green said: "You can’t print what I want to say about it. I despair of people who don’t care about human suffering."

Council leader Kevin Davis said: "That type of rhetoric is not helpful to anyone."

Kingston Labour leader Linsey Cottingham called this type of social media post "shameful". Ben Roberts who ran for the Kingston and Surbiton seat in the General Election refused to comment.

He said: "If you want a comment you will have to go through the UKIP press office and have it signed off."

Mr Bucklitsch who had tweeted that the parents of the Syrian boy who drowned were to blame for his death, apologised and deleted his account.

From Friday: UKIP candidate apologises for tweet about dead Syrian boy and deletes account

Tracked down by our sister paper the Brighton Argus he said he held his hands up.

From Saturday: EXCLUSIVE: Peter Bucklitsch tells his side of the story to The Argus after tweets turn him into public hate figure