A “SHAMEFUL” Tory councillor’s plot to smear women campaigning against government cuts to services for domestic violence victims was exposed yesterday — after he sent details to the women he was targeting.

In a round-robin email — which was copied to members of feminist group Sisters Uncut — Portsmouth councillor Scott Harris told fellow Tories he was digging for dirt on the group, alongside local charity Aurora New Dawn and its chief executive Shonagh Dillon.

Both organisations have embarrassed Tory-led Portsmouth City council by protesting and campaigning against the cuts.

Cllr Harris urged the recipients of the email to join him in using “gutter politics” to smear them ahead of local elections. He wrote: “I’m also compiling some stuff on Shonagh Dillion [sic], Aurora New Dawn and Sisters Uncut.

“Interestingly I’ve found some stuff on [local socialist activist] Jon Woods and the Socialist Workers’ Party which will be useful when the loony left come calling nearer May.”

Sisters Uncut member Sara Deen slammed the Hilsea ward representative, saying he “appears to think he is on The Thick of It — he’s not.” Ms Deen added that Cllr Harris was a “wannabe Malcolm Tucker” after the hard-nosed government spin-doctor in the British television satire.

“He’s a public representative with a duty to the women of Portsmouth,” she said. “Instead of wasting public resources on plotting a smear campaign against women fighting for domestic services, he should turn his attention to providing support for women fleeing life-threatening violence.”

Domestic violence refuges and help centres in Portsmouth will be hit with a £180,000 cut, despite the crimes accounting for a huge 37 per cent of recorded assaults in the city.

The proposed cuts will reduce the number of specialist independent domestic violence advisers from 15 to eight.

A specially funded housing support worker who helps women fleeing abuse to avoid homelessness will also be made redundant.

Despite the risk of domestic violence being higher in the first year of a child’s life, the council plans to remove specialist domestic violence support for health visitors, Sisters Uncut added.

But instead of protecting the funds that assist women in danger, Cllr Harris turned on the campaigners for daring to protest the cuts last December and against collecting more than 45,000 petition signatures.

He wrote an email saying: “The elections are coming and the politics are dirty … Quite frankly it might be a good idea to play dirty this time.

“I know we shouldn’t go down to their gutter politics but should we continue to stand by and allow this to go on?”

Letters of apology from Cllr Harris have been sent to those mentioned in his email, said Portsmouth City Council deputy chief executive and city solicitor Michael Lawther.

Mr Lawther added: “The email he sent is clearly private correspondence between councillors and other people.

“There are rules about the council being involved in political matters and because of this we will have no further involvement.”

Cllr Harris “clearly does not care” that women are being killed and abused by violent partners and ex-partners in the city he claims to serve, Sisters Uncut said in a statement.

The direct action group added: “It is disappointing that his priorities lie with political game play and manoeuvring, rather than providing support for women fleeing violence.”