A SENIOR Reform UK county councillor says the party “stands firmly against racism”.
Cllr Hayley Coles, deputy leader of Staffordshire County Council, made her comments after a motion was put forward by the Conservatives at a recent meeting.
In it, opposition group leader Cllr Philip White called for the Reform leadership to remove all members from roles where their action could be considered to be “racist”.
However, the motion was defeated following a vote, with Cllr Coles saying it “weaponised racism and identity politics”.
She said:
“This Reform UK administration condemns racism unequivocally. We will never accept any kind of discrimination based on who someone is.
“However, this motion weaponises racism and identity politics to score political points, a favourite tactic of the left, and would create a mechanism to bypass the council’s standards process and replace it with what a leader ‘believes’.
“We do not accept this framing and trust in the council’s standards process to properly assess any supposed breaches of the Code of Conduct, be that on the basis of alleged racism or otherwise.
“Our Reform UK administration stands firmly against racism. We do not need a motion to tell us what is right and wrong.”
Cllr White said remarks made by Reform UK members in the past had shown that action did need to be taken.
He said:
“This motion was designed to give all councillors the opportunity to vote against racism in our council.
“While none were willing to support the motion, I am glad that some Reform councillors quietly sent a message by abstaining on the vote.
“Unfortunately the Reform leadership voted down the motion and made it clear that they do not consider it their job to deal with racists in their ranks and their excuses for not doing so do not stand up to scrutiny.
“If they put as much effort into dealing with these problems as they do twisting and turning to avoid responsibility, Staffordshire would be in a much better place.”
