THE misogyny shown towards Prime Minister Theresa May has been “disgraceful,” a high-ranking Liberal Democrat councillor has said.

Giles Archibald, leader of South Lakeland District Council, said he was saddened by the abuse and “shocked” by a recent racist rant filmed on Ryanair.

Video footage captured on a flight between Barcelona and Stansted showed a man abusing an elderly woman has been viewed on YouTube more than 1.8 million times.

Speaking at a meeting in Kendal on Friday, Mr Archibald (Lib Dem, Kendal Town) said: “I thought we had left this kind of behaviour behind years ago. It’s absolutely disgraceful. I really think it’s quite shocking and very saddening we still have these prejudices in a country which has been multi-cultural for so long.”

Janette Jenkinson (Con, Ulverston West) suggested someone should have intervened instead of filming it. “Someone should have gone, sat down and had a quiet word and it might have been different. A lot of these things get blown up out of all proportion and it’s incumbent on us all to step in and react if we can.”