NATIONAL standards investigators have said they will not take action against a Liverpool Labour group ethics spokeswoman who posted blog comments declaring "all Lib- Dems are "b*****ds".

Cllr Louise Baldock, who sits on the council’s standards committee and is a regional ethics spokeswoman, made comments on her blog which were "gratuitously offensive", the Standards Board for England found.

She also sparked outrage by referring to Liberal Democrats and Liberals as "opportunistic b*****ds".

But the Standards Board said that, although it did "not condone the remarks in any way", it has found she has not breached the Members Code of Conduct.

Standards Board bosses said many of the comments fell "outside the scope of the Code" or were part of the "cut and thrust" of politics, but did warn her to think about the "negative impression" it could give of the council.

The judgment to take no action, which was taken after the local standards board referred the matter following a complaint by Cllr Radford, stated that the comment about the Lib-Dems was "a gratuitously offensive remark."