A local branch of the Conservative party have been forced to apologise after they issued a tweet that suggested that parents who struggled to feed their children for £10 a week "don't know how to feed their children well".

The controversial tweet that was issued on the 17 February has since been deleted by the members of the Bath Conservatives.

It read: "The reality may be indolent for dysfunctional parents or more likely parents who simply don't know how to feed their children well.

"If absolutely-not-a-Tory Jack Monroe could feed herself & her child for £10 a week - not easily, but adequately - most people can."

The tweet came in a conversation with a Green councillor amid talk of a cookbook by Jack Monroe who has written extensively about cooking on a budget.

The author hit out at the tweet, saying that: "It was YOUR policies that left me hungry, cold, almost homeless, mentally ill, still recovering 6 years later. 1 in 4 mums in poverty. Thousands dead after being declared 'fit to work'. I'm not your poster girl."

After suggesting that parents should be able to feed their children for £10 a month, the party was forced to issue and apology over the matter.

In a tweet, the Bath Conservatives said: "Yesterday an ill-judged comment was made on our Twitter account re. the challenge of food poverty. The content didn't accurately reflect our views or approach & we apologise for any offence caused. We continue to seek ways to reduce the blight of child poverty in our City."

The cookery writer then challenged the writer of the original tweet to come forwards so she could educate them on how to survive on just £10 a month, something she said, would involve a lot of "beans and rice."

Food bank
(File photo) The bank said they may have to ration supplies if the shortage continues Getty