Theresa May quotes Twitter user in Commons who claimed Polish people hit by Brexit hate crimes could deserve it

The account also branded a fellow Twitter user a ‘stupid, feminist piece of sh*t’

Prime Minister Theresa May quoted from a Twitter account in the House of Commons that previously posted a message saying some Polish people who get “lamped” in Brexit hate-crime could have “asked for it”.

Mrs May used the tweet from the “disgusting” account to attack Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn, but it later emerged the user has posted a string of offensive messages.

In another post, the account calls a fellow Twitter user a “stupid, feminist piece of sh*t”, while another sees it compare migrants to zombies.

A No 10 source did not deny the Prime Minister’s attack line had been taken from the account, sparking outrage and demands that she apologise.

During Prime Minister’s Questions Ms May quoted a post from Twitter user “Lewis” in an attempt to mock Mr Corbyn’s method of sourcing questions to ask from social media.

The message she read to MPs triggered hearty laughter from the Tory benches and led the account run in the name of Lewis Collins to claim credit for the line.

It then re-posted the original tweet Ms May had seemingly used, adding “looks like I’m famous”.

But inspection of the account reveals a series of offensive tweets. On 4 September it posted a link to a story about two Polish men who had been hurt in what was called a “race hate attack” that took place near the site of a recent murder.

The account added the comment: “Every time a Polish person is lamped, it will always be considered a Brexit hate crime.

“Even if they asked for it.”

In another post the user posted a picture of a zombie, adding that it showed “migrant chancers scouring for ways to circumvent the Calais wall”.

In another tweet he tells a fellow user: “P*ss off you stupid feminist piece of sh*t.”

A No 10 source tried to play down the matter, saying: “The PM’s point was about Corbyn’s polling and the mutual distrust between the Labour Party and British people.

“As she said today, with Labour so divided, there’s only one party capable of uniting the country, the Conservative Party.”

But Labour shadow minister Jon Ashworth said: “This is a disgusting Twitter account and it’s rather unbecoming and rather demeaning to the office of Prime Minister for Theresa May to have been quoting from it.

“Decent people will no doubt expect Mrs May to quickly apologise and disassociate herself from this foul Twitter message.”