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Reform’s deputy leader has refused to condemn comments from a councillor who suggested ‘melting’ Nigerians to fill potholes.
When confronted on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, Richard Tice referred to the matter as ‘smearing’ and changed the subject.
Glenn Gibbins, the candidate for Hylton Castle Ward in Sunderland, has won his seat in this week’s council elections.
In now deleted posts, he ranted on social media, he ‘can’t believe the amount of Nigerians in town’ and they ‘should melt them all down and fill in the pot holes’.
Gibbins has also complained about women being on TV, calling Mel and Sue the two ‘unfunniest fat repulsive lesbian hosts ever’.
‘We’ve heard all this smearing, but let me tell you what people are really concerned about,’ Tice said, before mentioning he would be attending a rally against antisemitism later today.
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‘If people have said daft things, of course, it will be looked at. But let’s just remember, we have a party that’s been successful, that is now the antisemitic Green Party – that’s what people are concerned about.’
When asked again about the inflammatory remarks, Tice said: ‘I condemn anything that is wrong and inappropriate.
‘But the key point is that voters have heard all of this smearing against all of us, and they have voted for more Reform because they want action, they want delivery, and they are sick of the failures of Tory and Labour.’
Another Reform candidate who allegedly said the Holocaust was a hoax also won a seat in the local elections.
Jay Cooper, who won one of three seats in the Sefton Council for the Bootle West ward, has been accused of spewing out conspiracy theories and labelling the genocide of millions of Jewish people ‘propaganda.’
The earlier social media comments made by the newly elected councillor from Merseyside Reform have come under scrutiny following his win with 705 votes.
In a since-deleted Facebook post made last September, Cooper referred to the death of US right-wing activist Charlie Kirk with the caption ‘Heartbreaking. Murdered for having an opinion,’ the Liverpool Echo reported.
A comment made by another user said that Adolf Hitler had an opinion and asked ‘did he deserve to die?’
Cooper responded: ‘I don’t agree with him murdering innocent people. But the Hallocaust [sic] is a hoax.
‘There wasn’t [sic] even 6 million Jews in Europe at the time. Propaganda.’
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