Newly elected Reform UK councillors face scrutiny over Islamophobic social media posts
LONDON: Up to a dozen newly elected councillors from Reform UK have been accused of posting Islamophobic and far-right content on social media, The Guardian reported on Saturday.
It comes a week after the party made a major breakthrough in local elections across the country, winning 677 of the more than 1,600 contested seats.
Reform UK councillors at three country councils have shared social media content from Britain First, a far-right party known for its anti-Islam views.
Paul Harrison, who was elected to Leicestershire's county council, retweeted and voted 'yes' to an X poll asking if the UK should conduct mass deportations.
The post was accompanied by an image, generated by artificial intelligence, of Muslim men holding Pakistani flags.
Reform UK officials are facing greater scrutiny in the wake of the local elections, with many of the social media posts being revealed by counter-extremism campaign group Hope Not Hate.
Its director of campaigns, Georgie Laming, said: '(Party leader) Nigel Farage has claimed that Reform UK have the 'most in-depth vetting procedure' of any party. Our investigation shows that their processes leave much to be desired.
'Not only have they admitted using 'AI techniques and other things' to do the vetting, but Reform UK continue to shirk responsibility for their candidates' online behaviour. They have yet to drop any of the candidates that have been exposed.'
The campaign group previously uncovered Islamophobic content posted by Reform candidates on social media, as well as far-right conspiracies and support for extremist figures including Tommy Robinson and David Irving.
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