Two Liverpool councillors have apologised after comparing Sandhills to Auschwitz.
Cllr Richard Kemp made the remark in a planning committee meeting on Tuesday (August 25) tot discuss potential expansion of the station’s queueing area.
The seasoned local Liberal Democrat accused Merseyrail bosses of treating Everton fans ‘like cattle’ as they travelled to and from Hill Dickinson Stadium.
He also described the current queueing space set out for supporters at the station near Bramley-Moore Dock being ‘like the greeting area for Auschwitz’.
Cllr Kemp, who also previously served as the city’s Lord Mayor, was not the only Lib Dem councillor to make off-colour comments during the meeting.
Childwall representative Cllr Pat Moloney said the corralling zones at Sandhills were ‘like something out of a horrific death camp in Nazi Germany’.
The pair’s remarks were seized upon by the Labour-run city council, whose leader Liam Robinson wrote to Sir Ed Davey to call for their suspensions.
Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram co-signed the letter, which Kemp initially claimed was the pair ‘covering up their own incompetence’ over Sandhills.
However the pair, who retained local party backing from leader Carl Cashman, have now issued a joint statement apologising for their words.
They said: “As councillors, we have given decades of service to this city, and both have a long record of standing alongside Liverpool’s Jewish community and speaking out against antisemitism whenever it has reared its head here.
“Neither of us would ever knowingly cause hurt to that community, and if the specific language used on Tuesday, in the heat of a debate about the treatment of football supporters, has caused genuine offence, we are both sorry for that, and say so without qualification.”
Cllrs Kemp and Moloney also hit back at Labour after its local party lodged a formal complaint to the council’s monitoring officer over the remarks.
They added: “Nobody should let that regret be used, as Labour are trying to use it, to bury the substance of what was actually said. We were making a serious point about a serious failure.
“Nine years after the council knew a new stadium was coming, Merseyrail and the city region are still proposing to “corral” and “sterile-zone” fans like cattle at Sandhills station, with no proper plan for parking, taxis, or disabled access.
“That is Steve Rotheram and Liam Robinson’s failure, with Evertonians paying the price for every matchday.”