Reform UK Councillors Resign After ITV Undercover Footage Shows Racist and Violent Comments

Nigel Farage defended Reform UK’s vetting procedures on 15 October after ITV broadcast undercover footage of elected councillors and candidates using racist, sexist and violent language. Three councillors have already left the party following the initial releases from the year-long investigation.

In the footage, Solihull councillor and deputy mayor Alan Feeney called Asian homeowners “absolute parasites” and said no more than 1 percent of the British population should be non-white. He described a plan to “drag them out of their homes, stick them on planes and f*** them off to Pakistan.” Feeney later resigned, citing personal reasons, and continues as an independent. Another Solihull councillor, Chris Whelan, made graphic sexual comments about female candidates and also resigned.

Bromley councillor Dean Miller was recorded calling black children “animals,” claiming King Charles is secretly Muslim, and saying the king should be beheaded. Miller has also resigned. Other candidates spoke of training young men in military tactics to round up immigrants and described themselves as “so far-right it’s unbelievable.”

Farage told BBC Look East that the party vets candidates to a higher standard than others but cannot prevent future comments. He identified the most serious case as a long-term Conservative who had defected. Reform said it had launched investigations and suspended members where behaviour was inappropriate. The party has repeatedly promised to exclude extremists and bigots.

The ITV programme “Undercover: A Year in Reform” followed candidates through the May 2026 local elections and subsequent by-elections. Opposition parties condemned the remarks and called for expulsions. Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative figures said the footage showed a failure of internal controls.

Feeney, Whelan and Miller had all been elected before the full extent of the recordings became public. Their resignations leave Reform with fewer sitting councillors in the affected authorities. The party’s national leadership has not announced further disciplinary measures beyond the suspensions and investigations already under way.

The episode returns attention to the composition of Reform’s local base at a time when the party is polling strongly ahead of future national contests. Farage’s response emphasises process rather than the content of the recorded statements. The remaining councillors who appeared in the footage have not yet issued public statements.