Reform UK Activist Suspended Over Anti-Muslim Remarks and Call for 'Concentration Camps'

Reform UK has suspended an activist and potential parliamentary candidate, Jason Powell, following revelations from an undercover investigation by ITV Exposure. Powell was filmed making derogatory remarks about Muslims and advocating for the establishment of "concentration camps" for migrants.

During a gathering referred to as 'Farage Fest' in the summer, after party leader Nigel Farage's re-election as MP for Clacton, Powell told an undercover reporter that he was "pretty hardline about Islam" and expressed skepticism about coexisting with Muslims in Britain. He also indicated potential disagreements with the party's home affairs spokesman, Zia Yusuf, who is British Muslim.

Powell detailed his views on migrant boats, stating that a Reform government's first action should be to "round up, every single last one of them, and sent to those concentration camps." He added that if migrants failed to disclose their country of origin, they should be informed they would remain in the country permanently.

A spokesperson for Reform UK confirmed that investigations have been launched into members, activists, and councillors whose behavior is deemed inappropriate. The party stated that some individuals have been suspended pending due process.

The revelations come ahead of the full broadcast of the ITV Exposure and Hardcash Productions investigation, which has spanned a year.

This incident follows previous controversies involving Reform UK, with several councillors reportedly quitting after being filmed making offensive remarks, including derogatory comments about Black children and suggestions that the King was a secret Muslim. The investigation also captured a party member describing the vetting process as assessing if applicants were "a fing lunatic" likely to generate negative headlines. Another Reform MP, Sarah Pochin, described the party as "so fing chauvinistic" and detailed experiences of exclusion as a woman within the party.

Reform UK has publicly stated that there is "no room for racism" within its ranks. Nigel Farage has suggested that the ITV investigation is driven by a desire from the establishment to undermine the party.

The controversy also intersects with a broader debate within the party and public discourse about national identity. Reform MP Suella Braverman recently sparked criticism by suggesting that British Asians, including herself, cannot be considered English due to their ethnic heritage, framing "Englishness" as an ethnicity. This viewpoint was met with disagreement from within the party, including from Zia Yusuf, who asserted that figures like Black England footballers are unequivocally English, rejecting the idea that foreign heritage precludes English identity.