A councillor who has refused to apologise for breaching the code of conduct has quit the Liberal Democrats saying she received “a complete lack of support” over a “campaign of bullying and personal abuse”.

Dulcie Tudor was last week given a formal censure by Cornwall Council’s standards committee over her refusal to apologise twice for making the comments in a radio interview last summer.

The comments were made during a protest outside County Hall by people who claimed that Cornwall was being overdeveloped.

Cllr Tudor said that she had sympathy for the protesters but said that there were some who were the “sinister underbelly of Cornish nationalism”.

After she was ordered to apologise by the council she revealed that she had been subject to abuse from some people which included emails and messages on social media.

She said that she had reported the abuse to police and the messages had been logged as malicious communication.

The Threemilestone and Gloweth councillor announced on Monday that she would be resigning from the Lib Dem group but would remain as a councillor.

Read more: Councillor Dulcie Tudor censured for failing to apologise

In a statement she said: “Following the recent decision of Cornwall Council’s Standards Committee I have considered my position as both a Cornwall Councillor and member of the Liberal Democrat Group.

“I’ve concluded I will not be resigning as a Cornwall Councillor, the principle reason being that I do not wish to jeopardise the projects I’ve fought so hard to get to this stage. These include the new Threemilestone school hall/community sports hall, an extension to the community centre, the provision of sports pitches for local teams, planned improvements to the village public realm and schemes to support the vulnerable post Covid-19.

“I am however with immediate effect leaving the Liberal Democrat council group.

“The reason for this is the complete lack of support from the group as a whole during the very public sustained campaign of bullying and personal abuse against me from a small group of individuals. Although I want to state I have appreciated the individual messages of support and help from some members of the group and the Truro and Falmouth local party in recent days. I also very much appreciate the many messages of support I have received from people across Cornwall and in my council division.

“Efforts have been made to portray me as anti Cornish. I would like to take this opportunity to clarify my feelings. I was born in Cornwall, have a deep affection for my county and I feel honoured to be a Cornwall councillor. My comments to the BBC last July were not addressed to the Cornish people but specifically towards a small group of extremists. I am firmly against bullying in whatever form it takes hence my refusal to apologise.”

Read more: Cornwall's standards committee to discuss councillor's protest comments

The resignation comes after the Lib Dem group said that it would be taking legal advice following the standards committee decision.

Lib Dem group leader Malcolm Brown said: “Cornwall Council officers have been clear that Dulcie’s conduct in relation to the complaint against her breached the standards that are expected of councillors. I have never been in doubt that most members of the public would think that harsh and unfair given how badly she has been treated. However, the councillors and lay members of the standards committee have now considered this afresh and come to the same conclusions.

“That means she will be formally censured at the next council meeting in September. She wants to draw a line under this which  seems more difficult even though there is still big support for her personally among councillors. My deputy, Joyce Duffin and I will be meeting council lawyers for advice and I am seeking guidance from Liberal Democrat Headquarters so as to help our councillors discuss the situation as soon as we can.”