THE deputy leader of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council said he will not be supporting the appointment of the next mayor, because of her “track record of being offensive and not giving a damn who she upsets”.

In an unprecedented attack on his fellow Conservative councillor, Cllr Simon Bound made the damning comments about Cllr Onnalee Cubitt in a formal complaint after she compared making changes to the council offices to 'Year Zero', a term widely used to refer to the killing of two million people in the Cambodian genocide.

Cllr Bound urged his fellow councillors to “call out” and publicly state that the language used by Cllr Cubitt was “unacceptable” and “deeply offensive”.

As previously reported, in an email seen by the Gazette, Cllr Cubitt was responding to a request for councillors to complete a survey on plans to change how the council offices are used, when she made the comment.

The deputy mayor said: “The council and its collective history does not belong to us. We should not be aspiring to create a utilitarian ‘Year Zero’ space at great expense, especially in these straightened times.”

The term Year Zero was applied to the takeover of Cambodia in 1975 by the Khmer Rouge, referring to the idea that all culture and traditions within a society are destroyed or discarded.

All the history of a nation or people before Year Zero would be deemed irrelevant, with them purged and replaced from the ground up.

Cllr Simon Bound, cabinet member for communities, culture and partnership, has now made a joint formal complaint with Cllr Andrew McCormick regarding the comment.

Cllr Bound, who represents Rooksdown, said: “I am outraged and appalled at how "acceptable" it appears to be for these councillors to trivialise the killing and genocide of 2 million people. I find it deeply offensive and I cannot imagine how anyone who experienced anything similar in their background would feel that elected members would find this casual comparison justifiable.

“The residents of our borough have every right to expect much better than this from their councillors and in Cllr Cubitt's case from the deputy mayor. “Cllr Cubitt is due to be the Mayor from May 2021 and the first citizen of the borough. This means that only HM The Queen, members of the Royal Family and the Lord Lieutenant take precedence over the mayor at events in the borough.

“Her track record of being offensive and not giving a damn who she upsets makes her completely unqualified for this role and I will not be supporting her appointment.

“It is my passionate belief that she does not represent the borough, she does not represent the council, she does not represent the views of people in Old Basing and she certainly doesn't represent the Conservative Party.

“I have also made a complaint to the Basingstoke Conservative Party.”

Cllr Bound said he expects the deputy mayor to “give a formal public unreserved apology”.

He added: “As councillors we are all duty bound to call out unacceptable behaviour and I call on all members of the council to publicly state that this language is exactly that.”

The complaint was also made about Cllr David Potter, after he responded to Cllr Cubitt’s email to say he endorsed her comments.

It is not the first time Cllr Cubitt has caused offence with the language she uses.

As previously reported, she faced criticism after referring to Covid-19 as the “Chinese virus”.

A complaint made about Cllr Cubitt accusing her of racism was dismissed by the council because it happened in her “private life”.

The complaint was made after she liked a Tweet by Donald Trump in which he referred to Covid as “a very bad ‘gift’ from China”.

Cllr Cubitt has not yet responded to a request for a comment.

Cllr Potter said he was not aware of the complaint and therefore was unable to comment.