Police have launched an investigation into comments by a Ukip candidate that he might rape a Labour MP.

Carl Benjamin sent a Twitter message in 2016 saying he “wouldn’t even rape” the Birmingham Yardley MP Jess Phillips and then revived the comment in a recent video when he said “with enough pressure I might cave”.

Mr Benjamin, who is standing for Ukip in the EU elections in the South West, released a video last month on YouTube, where he has a large following under the name Sargon of Akkad.

He said on the video: “There’s been an awful lot of talk about whether I would or wouldn’t rape Jess Phillips. I've been in a lot of trouble for my hardline stance of not even raping her. I suppose with enough pressure I might cave. But let’s be honest, nobody’s got that much beer.”

In response Ms Phillips said: “The Electoral Commission should surely have standards about who can stand for election.

“If Facebook and Twitter can ban these people for hate speech how is it they are allowed to stand for election?”

She later tweeted: “I’m normally pretty tough, I take the slings and arrows I might just be tired but when asked to comment on this I was really upset.”

Today West Midland police issued a statement saying: “Police have received a report of malicious communications relating to MP Jess Phillips.

“Officers have spoken to Ms Phillips and the comments are being investigated to establish if an offence has taken place.”