COMMENTS by a parish councillor, which led to accusations of Holocaust denial and antisemitism, will not currently be pursued by the police as they don’t meet the “criminal threshold”.

Mylor parish councillor Pete Lawrence made international headlines last month when protest group Cornwall Resists filmed him at a rally in Truro saying the Holocaust was “massively over-exaggerated”.

Mr Lawrence was asked if antisemitism exists and he replied “technically, no”. He then went on to say “Hitler did not have beef with the Jews.”

A spokesperson for Cornwall Council revealed that it had received more than 100 complaints regarding Cllr Lawrence’s conduct, with the unitary authority reporting him to the police. Devon and Cornwall Police have now responded that no further action will currently be taken.

A spokesperson for the force said: “We are aware of a report of a hate incident that occurred in Truro on May 24. Enquiries have been made and at this time, while we understand that the comments made may be viewed as insensitive, the incident does not meet the criminal threshold.”

Last week Cllr Lawrence was censured by his parish council for bringing his fellow councillors and Mylor council into disrepute by association. He refused to resign but did apologise to fellow members.

He said: “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.”

“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”.