Reform UK suspends activist over 'Muslims cannot be British' and 'concentration camps' remarks to ITV undercover reporter
Reform UK has suspended activist and prospective MP Jason Powell after ITV undercover footage showed him saying a Muslim cannot be British and that migrants crossing the Channel should be put in 'concentration camps'; the party is also investigating two Hounslow councillors.
Reform UK has suspended a party activist who reportedly said that you cannot be Muslim and British in footage recorded by an undercover reporter from ITV News.
Jason Powell, who has applied to be a Reform parliamentary candidate, told the undercover reporter: “To me… you cannot be a Muslim and British… it’s like oil and water.” Discussing people crossing the Channel in small boats, he said: “In the first week of election, build concentration camps, and everyone who comes across on the Channel, you’re in there.”
The party said Powell had been suspended from membership while an internal investigation takes place. It is also investigating two councillors from the London borough of Hounslow: David Kerr, who appears to advocate machine-gunning thousands of grooming gang members, and Adam Parkins, who suggests that if he became prime minister he would conduct Sunday morning executions in the Downing Street rose garden. Parkins told the BBC that advocating the death penalty for men who “systemically groomed and raped young girls” was a perfectly legitimate opinion.
A Reform spokesperson told the BBC the party was pursuing legal action against ITV and the documentary’s production company over the undercover reporting. In a statement to ITV, the party said there was “no room for racism” in Reform and it had opened investigations where members had “clearly behaved inappropriately”.
Responding to the broadcast on the BBC’s Today programme, Reform MP Robert Jenrick said all parties had “bad apples” and the party had acted quickly to remove or suspend those filmed.
Labour chairwoman Bridget Phillipson said Nigel Farage’s response showed he was “completely unfit to lead”, adding: “Bad apples don’t fall far from the tree.”
The footage forms part of ITV’s Undercover: A Year in Reform, broadcast on Sunday 18 October at 10.20pm on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV Player. Excerpts released earlier in the week showed councillors and candidates using racist language, while Reform MP Sarah Pochin called the party “chauvinistic” in a separate clip.
Sources
More on this topic: all UK Broadband stories
