A borough councillor has been accused of bringing the council into disrepute on the week of the Hertfordshire County Council elections.

Residents in South Borehamwood received a letter from Conservative Party councillor Alan Plancey stating that Labour party candidate Cllr Michelle Vince, who is standing as a candidate in the county election, was ‘seeking a political advantage to discredit others’.

The letter was sent out on to voters this week in reaction to a photo commented on on social media.

The photo showed some Elstree and Borehamwood town councillors dining with Dr Peter Wong Morrow, President of the UK Council for Chinese Business at the Gherkin in London.

The photo was put on Facebook on December, 11 2016, about one week before a snap town council meeting to discuss twinning with Huainan.

The controversial decision to twin with the Chinese city was reached in January of this year.

A complaint about an unrelated matter was made to Hertsmere Borough Council about Michelle Vince in April about one week before candidates for the County Council elections were finalised.

As this was too near the election, Hertsmere Borough Council said that they would investigate the issue after everything had been announced and advised the candidates to keep the issue to themselves.

Cllr Michelle Vince said: “Putting a slur on my name before the election is a dirty and underhanded tactic.

“Residents have contacted me and are very upset about receiving these letters.

“I have not made anything public, the post was plainly available on social media."

Hertsmere Borough Council corporate communications manager Cath Shepherd said: “We are aware of this matter.

“We can confirm that a councillor has made a complaint about Cllr Vince which will be considered in due course by our independent standards panel in line with standard council policy.”

Cllr Plancey refused to comment at this time, but said that a full statement will be released after the election.