A parish councillor at the heart of a controversy concerning alleged Holocaust denial has been reported to Devon and Cornwall Police by Cornwall Council.

Mylor’s Peter Lawrence made national and international headlines when he was caught on camera making comments which have been condemned as antisemitic.

The member of the far right British Democratic Party refused to resign as a councillor at an extraordinary meeting of Mylor Parish Council on Thursday, June 5 despite members of the public urging him to do so.

However, he did apologise to fellow councillors for the “inconvenience” and “upset” the incident has caused. Cllr Lawrence refuted he was an antisemite or Holocaust denier during the meeting, where his comments at a rally in Truro last month were labelled “absolutely abhorrent”.

The meeting heard that Mylor Parish Council does not have the power to dismiss a councillor, but individual parish councillors and members of the public could report Cllr Lawrence to Cornwall Council’s monitoring officer for a possible code of conduct breach.

A spokesperson for Cornwall Council has now revealed that it has received over 100 complaints regarding Cllr Lawrence’s conduct, with the unitary authority reporting him to the police.

They said: “Cornwall Council is deeply concerned about the comments which have been attributed to Cllr Peter Lawrence, who is a councillor with Mylor Parish Council. We have reported the comments made, which we consider are antisemitic and seek to deny the Holocaust, to the police and, having received over 100 complaints regarding the conduct of Cllr Lawrence, we are investigating these comments through the complaints process which is in place to determine the conduct of councillors.”

The councillor was caught on camera at the Great British Strike gathering on Truro’s Lemon Quay last month saying the Holocaust was “massively over-exaggerated”. The founder of the Farmers Movement Cornwall campaign group was asked by opposing protest group Cornwall Resists if antisemitism exists and he replied “technically, no”. He then went on to say “Hitler did not have beef with the Jews” and claimed the Jewish people were responsible for starting the Second World War.

He said at the meeting: “I will offer all members of the council an apology, of course, for the inconvenience this has caused to your time. I appreciate the subject matter is of an emotive nature and I do regret that some of my responses were poorly articulated, and therefore could be misinterpreted or seen as disrespectful by some.”

Cllr Lawrence added: “I wish to apologise for any upset caused by my involvement in the incident.” He went on to say challenging claims about the war “does not make you an antisemite or a Holocaust denier, accusations of which I both reject”.

However, others at the meeting were not happy with him remaining as a councillor. Jonathan Griffin, the former director of the National Maritime Museum Cornwall in Falmouth, said: “Someone who is in denial of the facts of three major issues – the Holocaust, antisemitism and climate change – I do not find it credible that they can represent me and represent the community of Mylor or the parish council when he is in denial of those facts and takes such a cavalier attitude. He is not the right person to be in a decision-making role on the parish council.”

He was censured by fellow councillors who asserted “that this council absolutely and unequivocally rejects the comments made by Cllr Peter Lawrence”.