The Reform councillors who face calls to resign in livid racism row

Daniel Devaney topped the poll in his Bradford ward despite a post in which he described Muslims as ‘pure scum’. He told his local paper: “I said it while I was in a bad mood and watching TV. It was on and I just let off steam”

Local councillors accused of racism faced calls to resign within hours of being elected for Reform. Daniel Devaney topped the poll in his Bradford ward despite a post in which he described Muslims as ‘pure scum’. He said: “I said it while I was in a bad mood and watching TV. It was on and I just let off steam.

“They are not scum and that was a bad thing to say and I regret it. I’ve offered to step down from the elections.”

The Mirror told how Devaney, 70, used to work for the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes. He was pictured rubbing shoulders with the then Prince Charles on HMS Invincible.

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Asked about his Facebook posts, the ex-canteen assistant admitted being “well out of order”. He stood by his defence of Enoch Powell but added: “I apologise for what I said in the posts.

“I’m not racist as I help my Asian neighbours. I just want to do something for my community.”

He later claimed that he was no longer a candidate. Ousted Bradford Council leader Susan Hinchcliffe said she found some of the comments prior to the election “absolutely abhorrent” and stated that every major political party needed to call them out.

Stuart Prior, who allegedly called white people “the master race” in online posts, won county and district council seats in Essex.

The sick posts only months ago were revealed in a joint probe by the Mirror and anti-racism group HOPE not hate.

Reform has ended the Tory party’s quarter of a century control of Essex county council, with Prior, 54, among those elected. He also won a Rochford district council seat. Reform said last week it was “looking into” Prior’s posts.

Georgie Laming, of HOPE not hate, said: “Among all the Reform UK candidates we have exposed, Stuart Prior’s language was some of the most horrifically racist. He should have been swiftly expelled from the party.”

Prior has denied writing racist posts. Another candidate who allegedly described the Holocaust as a “hoax” and “propaganda” won a council seat in Merseyside.

Jay Leslie Cooper, who won a seat in the Bootle West ward of Sefton council, allegedly wrote on Facebook last year regarding Adolf Hitler, “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.” Reform told the Liverpool Echo that Cooper was ‘under investigation’ but he ran and was elected.

Another councillor, Glenn Gibbins, elected to represent Hylton Castle ward on Sunderland City Council, has been suspended from the party pending an investigation.

As reported by Hope Not Hate, Gibbins allegedly posted against Sunderland’s Nigerian community in 2024.

In a post, he was alleged to have written that ‘carnt (sic) believe amoung to nigerians in the town…should melt them all down and fill in the potholes’. He has also been accused of misogyny in earlier posts.

Reform Durham County Council deputy leader Darren Grimes said: “He’s been suspended and the party is investigating those very serious allegations and will act on them.” When asked, Grimes agreed it had been “a failure of the vetting process”. “I accept that, I do accept that,” he said. Deputy leader of Reform Richard Tice was also asked about Gibbins.

He told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme: “I condemn anything that is wrong and inappropriate.

‘But the key point is voters have heard all of this smearing and sneering against all of us and they voted for more Reform because they want action, they want delivery, they’re sick of the failures of the Tories and Labour.”

David Laing, 67, also emerged victorious in Sunderland as the party ended Labour’s over 50-year city reign.

When the Mirror approached him he claimed that he ‘could not remember’ if he stood twice for the British National Party in nearby Washington, in 2006 and 2007.

Questioned if he made clear during Reform party vetting that he had stood for the BNP, the former sales and management worker replied: “To be honest, I couldn’t remember that I had.”

Reform leader Nigel Farage has said that his ‘golden rule’ was to bar BNP activists joining the party. He has previously attacked its ‘racist agenda’.

Reform UK has been approached for comment.