ULSTER Unionist MLA Tom Elliott says he is considering reporting Sinn Fein MLA Phil Flanagan to the the Standards and Privileges Committee at Stormont for referring to him as a 'clampit'.

Mr Flanagan used the word [which means hill-billy] to describe Mr Elliott and Ulster Unionist Party leader, Mike Nesbitt in a posting on Twitter.

"I'm not sure who the biggest clampit is. The current leader of the UUP or his predecessor," tweeted Mr Flanagan.

But the former UUP leader has hit back, describing his political rival as "immature".

"It's not the first time he has called me names. It is really petty, but he seems to keep at it. I think we all have our disputes and debates. We don't agree on many things, but to stoop to petty name calling is immature," he said.

Now the politician says he is considering referring the matter to the Northern Ireland Assembly's Standards and Privileges Committee which investigates complaints against its MLAs to determine if a breach of the Code of Conduct has occurred.

"I will sit down and have in-depth think about this," said Mr Elliott.

But this isn't the first internet row that Mr Flanagan has been involved in. Just weeks ago, the Twittersphere was awash with comments following a posting he made on his Facebook page.

"There may be 3G coverage in Fivemiletown, but Clabby's still a black hole," wrote the MLA.

The posting prompted fury among unionists who accused Mr Flanagan of being "sectarian".

Stephen Gault, who lost his father Samuel in the Enniskillen Bomb, tweeted: "A very sectarian comment from a elected member of our government", to which Mr Flanagan replied: "You're some craic. Clabby is a black hole for mobile phone coverage. As are Boho, Derrygonnelly and many other places." By writing the comment, Mr Elliott says the Sinn Fein politican was "very short-sighted".

"I thought it was a very poor choice of language. Now I can't guarantee he didn't mean to offend but it certainly looked that way. Calling Clabby a black hole would give you the impression that it was on the basis of referring to Clabby in a derogatory manner," he said.

When contacted twice by The Impartial Reporter, Mr Flanagan declined to comment.