UPDATED 4.30PM

CALLS have been made for Councillor Alan Amos to resign after his controversial rape remarks - with the politician today apologising.

The outspoken politician is facing pressure to quit as a councillor and be booted out the Conservative Party after stating it is "easy to make" rape allegations.

But this afternoon Councillor Amos put out a statement apologising for his remarks, saying "it was never my intention to offend".

As the Worcester News revealed on Saturday, the former city mayor suggested West Mercia Police stop reporting rape allegations as offences despite it going against national justice guidelines.

The remarks attracted severe criticism over the weekend after it led to national media attention.

Senior figures within the Labour Party and UKIP are among those demanding he quit, calling it "disgraceful".

Worcester Conservative Association has responded by saying Councillor Amos should not be "censured", despite its chairman admitting he wished the remarks were framed differently.

Worcestershire County Council's Labour group has also written an open letter to Worcester MP Robin Walker, saying Councillor Amos should have the Tory whip removed from him.

Councillor Peter McDonald, Labour group leader, has called upon him to "resign as an elected councillor".

"The remarks were hurtful and will cause a great deal of upset to anyone who has been raped, and has had to go through the ordeal of reporting it," he said.

"The remarks were not made in the 'spur of the moment' or indeed in a heated debated, but made in a calculated, cool and rational manner.

"There can be no excuse for such offensive remarks that have no place in a civilised society, and only cast doubt on the validity of those who have been raped."

The letter to Mr Walker, from Councillor Richard Udall, says Councillor Amos' remarks have "caused significant hurt to many victims and may discourage others from reporting a rape", calling them "outrageous".

It calls upon the Tories to remove the whip from him, saying he should not be allowed to "seek the protection of the Conservative Party".

Mr Walker has referred the letter on to the city's Conservative branch and is not intending to get involved, but will send Councillor Udall a response.

Former city Labour MP Mike Foster has also called upon the Conservative's national HQ to act, saying he needs to be "booted out", as well as the city's UKIP branch.

Elsewhere, a child sexual exploitation group in Warwickshire has also voiced concern over the remarks, calling them "disappointing and shocking".

Warwickshire CSE, a network of bodies which try and drum up awareness of the exploitation of young people, said "it is never easy for any victim to come forward" and has called for more training for elected councillors.

Councillor Amos has accused Labour politicians of "trying to score party political points", insisting he was trying to make a serious point about weaknesses in police data.

He said: "It is a very serious offence, rape, it's horrendous - I'm as concerned as anybody if rape offences have doubled, but it's the police reporting of the figures which are unsatisfactory.

"If someone comes forward and says they've been raped, it's not for me or anybody else to say it didn't happen."

Today Councillor James Stanley, chairman of Worcestershire Conservative Association, said: "The association takes the view that Alan Amos is capable of expressing his own views.

"It's not necessarily something that conveys the views of everyone in the association, but at the same time we are not censuring him.

"Speaking as an individual, it would perhaps have been wise if he had framed his answer in a slightly different way.

"I personally wish he'd answered slightly differently, but nobody is censuring anyone's views."

Councillor Amos said police reporting rape allegations as 'offences' is unhelpful for politicians trying to probe crime data.

The remarks were made during a scrutiny meeting at County Hall where police were being questioned about crime figures.

A report produced for the meeting revealed how rape allegations had increased massively, but did not state how many of the complaints to the police resulted in convictions, with Councillor Amos arguing that it was therefore flawed.

During the debate Superintendent Kevin Purcell, from West Mercia Police, said the remarks were "probably set from 30 years ago".

COUNCILLOR AMOS' STATEMENT IN FULL

"Over the weekend there have been reports in the media relating to comments I made at the Overview and Scrutiny Performance Board (meeting) held on September 13th.

"I wish to clarify the context in which my comments were made. 

"To anyone who may have been offended by seeing my comment without the context of the meeting then I of course apologise. 

"It was never my intention to offend, but instead to shine further light on these alarming figures. 

"At the meeting, the OSPB was debating the annual community safety report and I raised concerns about the very significant increase in the number of rape and serious sexual offences that had been reported in the last year.

"My point in raising this issue was to highlight how worrying this trend was and to question what the authorities were doing about it. 

"The fact that reported rape offences had doubled in South Worcestershire was a particularly alarming fact. 

"In my efforts to raise this issue and interrogate the statistics, it appears I may have confused some of my views on the subject.

"I therefore want to be absolutely clear today - rape and serious sexual offences are horrendous acts which ruin people's lives, and we as a society, need to fully support these victims to come forward and report them. 

"As I had hoped I made abundantly clear at the meeting, I fully support the victims of rape and the efforts of those seeking to bring the perpetrators to justice. 

"Throughout my career I have always done all I can to support the victims of crime, with my early support of the DAWN project in Worcester being just one example."