Reform councillor quits over offensive remarks

Warning: This report contains racist and offensive language.

A Reform UK councillor filmed calling Asian homeowners "parasites" has resigned from two councils and apologised for his comments.

Alan Feeney, who has since stepped down from the party, was heard making the remarks during undercover filming for an ITV News investigation in the run up to council elections in May.

Feeney said he had resigned every post he held on Solihull Council and Birmingham City Council, adding that his remarks "were wrong, offensive and completely unacceptable".

He has also been suspended from his job with the prison service, with the Ministry of Justice [MoJ] describing the comments captured during the documentary as "despicable".

In July, his register of interests with Solihull council recorded he was employed as a custodial manager, a position described on the HM Prison and Probation Service website as "the most senior uniformed officers in a prison".

Feeney was one of several Reform members featured in the ITV investigation, which was gathered over the course of a year.

In it, while campaigning in the run-up to May's elections, Feeney described an area as "infested" with Asian families and called them "absolute parasites".

He was also recorded saying no more than 1% of the UK population should be non-white.

Speaking to the BBC's Today programme on Friday, Reform MP Robert Jenrick said he "didn't like what I heard in the documentary" but argued that the party had acted quickly, removing or suspending those in the undercover film.

He added that all parties had "bad apples" and denied it was any more of a problem in Reform than other parties.

On Thursday, the party told the BBC that Feeney had "mutually agreed" to resign from the party.

Writing on Facebook on Friday, Feeney said he wanted "to offer my sincere and unreserved apologies for the comments I made in the recording that has recently come to light".

He added the comments did "not reflect my true beliefs or opinions, particularly of the communities mentioned in the report".

These were communities he had "supported countless times" over many years, he added.

He stated his true self was reflected in more than a decade of public service, but achievements "cannot reduce the impact of what has been said".

Feeney, who defected from the Conservative Party to Reform last year, was elected to the Shard End ward on Birmingham City Council in May.

A spokesperson for Reform Solihull said Feeney was briefly with the party, but spent the majority of his time as a Conservative councillor, and did not reflect "the views of the group".

The MoJ has stated the comments featured in the documentary would be investigated and action taken in line with its policy.

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