A COUNCILLOR forced to resign from her senior post after using the n-word in a meeting has hit back at her critics. Councillor Myfanwy Alexander quit as Powys County Council's cabinet member for education after using the slur in a discussion on cross border health services. She claimed she meant no offence and was trying to describe what she said was unequal treatment of Welsh speaking patients accessing health services in England. Her resignation came amid mounting pressure on the council's minority administration - with leader Barry Thomas threatened with a vote of no confidence over his handling of the matter. He said he had disciplined Cllr Alexander and had allowed her to stay in post. But she said her critics within the council had failed to raise their complaints with her at the cabinet meeting last week - or even react at the time. Referring to the council's opposition leader, Cllr Tony Thomas - who had called for her to be sacked, Cllr Alexander said: "At least one of the people who felt completely outraged was sat in the room and didn't turn a hair. "He knows perfectly well the word wasn't being used in an aggressive or racist way," added the councillor who said she had been referencing the book 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings' by Maya Angelou which discusses racism in segregation era America. Councillor Tony Thomas the leader of the council's largest group had said Cllr Alexander should have been immediately dismissed. He said: "I was an observer at the meeting and could not believe what I was hearing. Cllr Barry Thomas leader of the council should have dismissed her from the cabinet with immediate effect." Cllr Tony Thomas said he was 'somewhat astonished' when Cllr Alexander used the n-word but said there was no reaction in the room at the time. Cllr Alexander said she wanted health workers to have more of an awareness of people who do not use English as a first language, which she said not only included Welsh language speakers but people from other minority groups. She said her late father had lost the ability to speak English for a six week period when in hospital after suffering a stroke. For more on this story see this week's Brecon & Radnor Express - on sale now