Taxpayers' cash running into thousands of pounds has been spent clamping down on councillors’ “inappropriate” behaviour.

Hundreds of complaints about the alleged conduct of borough and town councillors has seen Copeland Council rack up huge costs to investigate them. And now tablets and mobile phones could be confiscated from Copeland councillors if they continue to act inappropriately online.

David Moore, leader of Copeland’s Tory group, has further called for “tougher sanctions” to tackle councillors.

He told a council meeting on Tuesday: “The number of investigations regarding Copeland councillors has been very small, but time has been taken up by Copeland with dealing with complaints about parish and town councillors.

“Some of the complaints are getting into silly numbers – for a council of our size we would expect a couple a month but we’re getting over 20 a month.

“We have the opportunity now to take this up with the government and push for tougher sanctions.”

Changes have been made to Copeland Council’s code of conduct and now if a breach is related to a council computer, laptop or phone, councillors can be prevented from using them. A new procedure to help council officers deal with complaints quicker and more cost-effectively will also be introduced.

Coun Moore said: “We’re trying to speed up the process and highlight costs. There’s no real sanctions: we can write to a town or parish council to say a councillor has fallen below standards but there’s not much else.

“If we felt it was appropriate and a Copeland councillor had acted inappropriately, we now have the right to remove a council tablet or phone.”

Mayor Mike Starkie has previously advised Copeland councillors to “act more responsibly” online.

Last week, councillor William Kirkbride had to apologise after making offensive comments online about Theresa May and Donald Trump.