A Conservative councillor has apologised after a tweet sent from his Twitter account showed Jeremy Corbyn superimposed into the scene of the Liverpool terror attack.

The image, that appeared on the Twitter and Facebook accounts of Paul Nickerson on Monday, portrayed the former Labour leader holding out a wreath of poppies to the flame-engulfed taxi outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital.

The caption of the now-deleted post read “unsurprising” – in what was believed to be an attempt to draw parallels with Mr Corbyn’s historic engagement with terrorist and extremist groups.

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On Tuesday, Mr Nickerson tweeted that he “unreservedly” apologised after facing harsh criticism online and being accused of making light of the incident.

The East Riding councillor said: “I would like to apologise for a political tweet sent from my account yesterday which has been upsetting for some people and I unreservedly apologise to all concerned.”

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It came after one person died and another was injured in a car explosion outside the hospital just before 11am on Remembrance Sunday.

Police have since declared the blast a terror incident and arrested four men – aged 20, 21, 26, and 29 – under the Terrorism Act.

They have now been released from police custody without charge.

I would like to apologies for a political tweet sent from my account yesterday which has been upsetting for some people and I unreservedly apologise to all concerned.

The suspected terrorist who was killed has been named as 32-year-old Emad al Swealmeen.

Officers said they believe he is the male passenger who brought a homemade bomb with him into the taxi and asked to be taken to the hospital.

He was picked up in the Rutland Avenue area of the city and as the car reached the hospital’s passenger drop-off point, it exploded.

The driver of the cab, David Perry, was treated in hospital after fleeing the car just before it burst into flames, and has now been discharged.

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