TWO senior Liverpool Liberal Democrats have hit out at the way the local party dealt with a councillor at the centre of a storm over a Facebook picture apparently mocking disabled people.

Former council leader Mike Storey said the local party should have launched an investigation into Cllr Sharon Green instead of waiting for the national party to intervene.

And former councillor and defeated parliamentary candidate Colin Eldridge said the local chief whip, Karen Afford, needed to investigate so the matter, which caused great offence in the disabled community, could be cleared up quickly.

Last week the national Lib-Dems asked their regional standards chiefs to investigate the matter.

The intervention of Cllr Storey and Mr Eldridge is the first public sign of simmering frustrations within the local party that has been angered by the way the affair has been dealt with.

Last month, the Daily Post revealed how a photo of disabled people was discovered on Cllr Green’s Facebook profile with text comparing them with the city’s Labour group.

Although Cllr Green did not comment, Lib-Dem leader Warren Bradley said “she could not be held responsible for things posted by other people”.

The picture was found in a Facebook “album” named “the opposition by Sharon Green”.

Facebook has confirmed that to create an album in a personal profile, users must be logged into that profile.