Reform councillor Alan Feeney quits all council posts over racist remarks

Alan Feeney, the Reform UK councillor who sat on both Solihull metropolitan borough council and Birmingham city council, has resigned every post he held on both authorities after an ITV undercover investigation filmed him making racist remarks.

In a Facebook post on Friday, Feeney wrote: “There is no excuse for my comments. With responsibility comes accountability, and it is for that reason that I have resigned every post I hold on both Solihull borough council and Birmingham city council” (https://www.shango.media/the-guardian-reform-councillor-resigns-after-being-filmed-making-racist-remarks-11955414). He added: “Byelections will be held on a timescale laid out by those councils in the due course” (https://www.shango.media/the-guardian-reform-councillor-resigns-after-being-filmed-making-racist-remarks-11955414).

ITV News broadcast secretly recorded footage on Wednesday of Feeney, while canvassing in April and May, calling Asian families “absolute parasites” — an approach he himself dubbed “Alan’s racist canvassing” — and saying no more than 1 per cent of the British population could be non-white (https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/reform-councillors-call-muslims-parasites-and-black-children-animals-mz7ppsf0t).

Earlier this year Feeney won Shard End ward on Birmingham city council and Castle Bromwich ward on Solihull council, where he was appointed deputy mayor. On Monday he had mutually agreed to leave Reform UK citing “personal reasons”, continuing as an independent councillor before Friday’s resignation (https://www.shango.media/the-guardian-reform-councillor-resigns-after-being-filmed-making-racist-remarks-11955414) (https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/reform-councillors-call-muslims-parasites-and-black-children-animals-mz7ppsf0t).

Feeney was filmed alongside fellow councillors Jamie Campbell and Chris Whelan; all three have now left Reform. The party said it had improved vetting but “a handful of individuals who do not share our values will initially make it through”, while Nigel Farage has previously promised to rid Reform of “bad apples” (https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/reform-councillors-call-muslims-parasites-and-black-children-animals-mz7ppsf0t).