Reform withdraws support for candidate over posts
PAReform UK has withdrawn its support for a council by-election candidate accused of posting "racist, antisemitic, xenophobic" comments on social media.
Mike Manning was the party's chosen candidate in a by-election due to take place on 19 February for the Zetland ward on Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council in Teesside.
A Reform spokesperson said it found the comments "unacceptable", adding: "It is clear Mike Manning did not declare his X account to the party during the vetting process."
Posting on Facebook, Manning said: "In light of the unfortunate tweets I made, for which I profusely apologise, I have now resigned from the Reform party. If I could, I would withdraw my name from the ballot."
Manning will still appear as a Reform UK candidate on ballot papers because electoral law means they effectively cannot be changed after publication.
FacebookLabour and the Liberal Democrats had earlier called for the suspension of Manning, who had been described as a former Royal Artillery serviceman in a Facebook post by Reform UK's Redcar branch.
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said Manning's posts - on a now-deleted account - had contained "sickening insults at Jewish and Muslim communities".
Writing to party leader Nigel Farage, she said: "These kinds of racist, antisemitic, xenophobic beliefs have no place in our politics."
Redcar MP Anna Turley, who chairs the Labour Party, also wrote to Farage. She said said Manning had posted a "misogynist attack on the Archbishop of Canterbury" Dame Sarah Mullally.
A Reform UK spokesperson said: "Following an investigation, it is clear Mike Manning did not declare his X account to the party during the vetting process.
"The party is certain the comments were made by him, finds them unacceptable, and will no longer be supporting his candidacy."
The spokesperson said he would not be allowed to sit as a Reform UK councillor if elected.
The party did not respond to criticisms, made by Labour and the Lib Dems, about the standards of its candidate vetting.
Nominations for candidates in the by-election have now closed.
Liberal Democrat Alison Barnes, Conservative Igraine Gray, Labour's Mitchell Rynn and the Green Party's Brian Marc Teasdale are the other candidates standing.
