Colne Valley West councillor Stephan Dransfield allegedly made the comment over a video of an Asian man being punched in the face
Reform UK’s representative for Colne Valley and Branch Chair, Stuart Hale (pictured), responded to the email regarding concerns raised over the newly elected councillor, Stefan Dransfield, appearing to share a post of an Asian man being punched in the face(Image: Nick Lavigueur / Facebook)
Reform UK officials in Colne Valley have broken their silence following racist social media posts allegedly made by a newly elected councillor.
Stephan (Stefan) Dransfield is one of three newly elected Reform UK councillors for the Colne Valley West ward on Kirklees Council.
It was discovered that social media posts – shared under the name of Stefan Dransfield on Facebook on March 28, 2020 – depicted an Asian man being punched aggressively in the face. The post’s caption read “very satisfying” and was made after sharing the video.
While Dransfield has yet to acknowledge journalists’ requests, Reform UK’s representative for Colne Valley, Branch Chair Stuart Hale, issued a curt response; Hale did not deny the allegations, instead branding the reporting of the racist posts as “very dull”.
Hale’s response simply read: “Can you not spend (time) more productively, rather than troll back over previous year’s old news. Very dull, sorry. Let’s have some good news, please.”
Kirklees Council also issued a response, reiterating its code of conduct.
A spokesperson for Kirklees Council said: “Councillors are required to comply with the Council’s Code of Conduct when acting in their capacity as elected members. The unverified screenshots in question appear to be from posts made prior to the individual being elected as a councillor and before they were subject to the Code of Conduct.”
The Kirklees Council Code of Conduct explicitly requires councillors to promote equality and strictly prohibits unlawful discrimination, harassment, or victimisation on the grounds of race. Under these rules, members must treat all individuals with respect and lead by example to maintain public confidence in the council’s commitment to a zero-tolerance approach towards racism.
Stephan Dransfield was contacted regarding the posts.
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