Reports have indicated that Reform UK has had to drop three of its candidates after making offensive comments. Edward Oakenfull, who is standing in Derbyshire Dales, Robert Lomas, standing in Barnsley North, and Leslie Lilley, who is standing in Southend East and Rochford, will still appear on the ballot paper as Reform candidates due to it being too late for them to be removed. Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, disowned the candidates during an appearance on BBC Question Time on Friday evening when their remarks were put to him.
A party spokesman indicated that if any of the three were elected, they would sit as independent MPs. Despite this, he said people should still vote for the candidates if they wished to register support for Reform UK. He encouraged them to vote for Reform UK’s policy platform, stating that the size of the party’s vote share nationally is what matters.
Since the beginning of the election campaign, Reform UK has had to face persistent questions about the selection of its candidates. A number of offensive social media posts and controversy surrounded the company that conducted background checks on would-be candidates, leading to the accusation that it failed to complete vetting before the election was called.
All major political parties have had to drop potential parliamentary candidates over inappropriate comments in recent times, although Reform UK has had to drop more candidates than other parties. This issue has been the cause of much controversy in the lead up to the election
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