Lord Freud, the president of the Eastry Conservative branch, has come under fire over his latest remarks.

The great grandson of Sigmund Freud and welfare reform minister said disabled people should be on less than minimum wage - and paid as little as £2 an hour.

David Cameron ordered Lord Freud to apologise, which he did in a written statement issued yesterday.

He said: “I would like to offer a full and unreserved apology. I was foolish to accept the premise of the question.

“To be clear, all disabled people should be paid at least the minimum wage, without exception, and I accept it is offensive to suggest anything else.

“I care passionately about disabled people. I am proud to have played a full part in a government that is fully committed to helping disabled people overcome the many barriers they face in finding employment.

"I am profoundly sorry for any offence I have caused to any disabled people.”

However, calls have been made for MP of Deal and Dover Charlie Elphicke to axe the minister from his role in Eastry.

Local Liberal Democrat Antony Hook said: "These were disgraceful remarks by Lord Freud that may give encouragement to those who treat disabled people badly.

"Unless Charlie Elphicke agrees with Lord Freud's offensive remarks he should ensure his local party ceases to have him as an officer. He will do that if he has any respect at all for disabled people in Dover and Deal."

MP Charlie Elphicke said: "This is pathetic, desperate and shameless bandwagon jumping from the Lib Dems.

"I know Lord Freud. He is a good, kind compassionate man who cares deeply for disabled people.

"He has apologised."

Meanwhile, a Kent councillor caught up in the row has responded to criticisms of a comment he made about disabled people not 'being worth' minimum wage.

David Scott, who represents St Johns Ward in Tunbridge Wells, sparked controversy yesterday when he was recorded admitting he doesn't pay his disabled gardener minimum wage.

"I have a number of mentally damaged individuals, who to be quite frank aren't worth the Minimum Wage, but want to work" - David Scott

In response to the criticisms, he has now said that attention is not being paid to the real problem.

He claims he was trying to discuss how to support people with disabilities in other ways other than giving them money.

His comment came following a statement from Welfare Minister Lord Freud in which Lord Freud suggested that disabled people should be paid less than the minimum wage.

At the Conservative Party Conference, Mr Scott was recorded telling Lord Freud: "I have a number of mentally damaged individuals, who to be quite frank aren't worth the Minimum Wage, but want to work."

"We have been trying to support them in work, but you can’t find people who are willing to pay the Minimum Wage.

"We had a young man who was keen to do gardening; now the only way we managed to get him to work was actually setting up a company for him, because as a director in a company we didn’t have to pay the Minimum Wage, we could actually give him the earnings from that.

"But trying to actually maintain his support and allow him to actually work-which he wanted to do–so to actually stay with benefits, and stay with some way of actually managing to continue on in that way."