Meet some Reform local council candidates

Here are some of the people that Reform UK has put on the ballot paper for the May local elections across England.

Reform UK has boasted of how rigorously it is vetting its candidates and called them “outstanding“. But let us take a look at some of those appearing on ballot papers with ‘Reform’ next to their name…

Donna Edmunds, Hodnet ward, Shropshire

The Daily Telegraph reports:

A Reform UK local election candidate called for a statue of Tommy Robinson “in every town square”.

Donna Edmunds, who is standing for election to Shropshire council on May 1, praised the imprisoned far-Right activist in a series of social media posts earlier this year.

She also criticised Nigel Farage for distancing himself from Robinson, who was jailed in October for contempt of court after repeating false allegations.

Stephen Hartley, Banbury Hardwick ward, Oxfordshire

The Banbury Guardian reports:

A Reform UK candidate for the Oxfordshire local elections has claimed that Jimmy Savile was an “innocent man” and a “working class hero” as well as being his “role model”.

Stephen Hartley, who is standing for the Banbury Hardwick division in the upcoming county council elections, has received a huge backlash for showing support for the prolific abuser who died in 2011.

He was then suspended by Reform but will still appear on ballot papers as the Reform candidate.

Stephen Hartley has also continued to stand by his praise for Jimmy Savile: “I stand by my claims that Jimmy Savile was a working-class hero”.

Arty Hume, Amble (with Hauxley and Togston) ward, Northumberland

The Times reports:

Arty Hume, a candidate in Northumberland, described Tommy Robinson, the far-right activist, as “a latter-day Enoch Powell”.

Andrew Husband, Chester-le-Street North ward, County Durham

The Daily Mirror reported of him last year when he also stood for Parliament:

Mr Husband suggested that the Covid vaccine was the “greatest crime against humanity” and has retweeted posts from Wide Awake Media, a conspiracy platform, which call climate change a “scam”.

He has also retweeted a video clip of US President Joe Biden talking about building regulations in relation to wildfire resilience and claimed that he had been referencing the roofs of houses that survived wildfires as evidence of the use of “direct energy weapons” to cause wildfires in Texas and Brazil.

Adele Taggart, Chester-le-Street South ward, County Durham

The Times reports:

A Reform UK candidate called for the hanging of Sir Chris Whitty and defended a golliwog toy she owned as “very cute”.

Adele Taggart, one of the party’s nominees for May’s local election, described in a social media post the golliwog toys she owned as a child. The toys are considered to be a racist caricature of black people…

In another post she said Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, and Sir Patrick Vallance, the former government chief scientific adviser, should be “strung up” for their roles in the Covid pandemic.

Miriam Thomas, Aylesbury East ward, Buckinghamshire

The Daily Mirror reports:

Although she has been suspended, she is still appearing on ballot papers with the Reform party name and logo next to her name.

Mark Wade, Chorley Rural West ward, Lancashire

The Independent reports:

One of Reform UK’s local election candidates accused Queen Elizabeth of “scrounging” and “sponging” and called for her to be jailed, The Independent can reveal.

Mark Wade, council candidate in Chorley Rural West, marked Her Majesty becoming the longest-reigning British monarch with a post on Facebook saying she had spent “a long time scrounging”.

He also commented on the late Queen’s visit to Crumlin Road Gaol in north Belfast: “The Queen has just entered an old jail in Belfast, let’s shut the gates and get the rest of her sponging family to join her.”

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