THE Labour Party has suspended a North-East councillor for "liking’’ a website comment that the IRA should blow up the Tory conference Florence Anderson, Sunderland City Council’s Community and Safer City Scrutiny Committee, led the Eppleton Area Miners’ Support Group at Hetton-le-Hole during the bitter 1984-85 Miners’ Strike.

Coun Anderson, who represents Hetton and was Sunderland’s first woman deputy leader in May 2008, signalled her support in July 2010 for the message in the Facebook Group "Margaret Thatcher doesn’t have to be dead before we give her a funeral".

She was discovered by Conservative-leaning bloggers to be among 26 people who indicated they liked the message that the next party conference should be targeted by the Irish terrorists.

A spokesman for the Labour Party said: "These comments are disgraceful. Florence Anderson has been suspended from the Labour Party with immediate effect in light of this information."

Coun Anderson, who could not be contacted for comment, has previously said that she hopes the 86-year-old former Tory leader Margaret Thatcher "burns in hell’’.

One of the organisers of the Durham Miners Gala said that Lady Thatcher still aroused strong feelings because of the effect of her policies on the North-East, particularly its mining communities.

Dave Hopper, general secretary of the Durham Miners Association, said: "Bombing is a little bit severe and I wouldn’t go around agitating for that.

"There wouldn’t be much sympathy if things like that did happen.

"Thatcher did more damage to our communities than the Germans did to us from 1939 to 1945.

"Certainly there will be a lot of people who will be very, very pleased to see the demise of people like Thatcher.

"I think there are very, very strong feelings because of what the woman did.

"When you look at our communities and all the dereliction and unemployment, there is no future and no hope for our youngsters."

"Bombing ios a bit severe but I’ll not be shedding any tears for the demise of any Tories."