Reform UK councillor quits days after election

A Reform UK councillor who was elected last week has resigned and has been expelled from the party.

Stuart Prior was one of 53 Reform members who were elected to Essex County Council and earned a majority on the authority for Nigel Farage's party. Prior also gained a seat on Rochford District Council.

But he was accused the week before the elections of creating racist and Islamophobic posts on social media by Hope Not Hate.

The BBC attempted to contact Prior. He denied being a racist when approached by the Daily Mirror newspaper.

Stuart Prior is alleged to have described white people as "the master race" who have "larger brains".

Reform had said over several days last week the party was "looking into these posts".

A party source said earlier that Prior had resigned from both councils and "he's had his membership revoked".

Other sources confirmed that Prior had resigned from his elected roles.

Political opponents called on Reform UK to "drop" Prior as a candidate ahead of Thursday's elections.

Hope Not Hate (HNH) claimed Prior deleted an X account named @essexpriory earlier this year which had tweeted in November "Muslims are dirt" and "Muslims are awful, globally". He was accused of posting that genocide could not be committed against them.

Prior responded to the Mirror newspaper "that's not what I would have put down" and "this isn't me".

Hope Not Hate is a campaigning organisation that aims to tackle and expose far-right hate.

Prior won the Essex County Council division of Rayleigh West with a majority of 796 votes, taking the seat off the Liberal Democrats.

The Reform candidate also won Sweyne Park and the Grange on Rochford. Farage's party won all 13 seats up for grabs on the district council - and no one party now has overall control there.

A by-election is likely to be held for both seats.

Farage was asked by BBC Essex last month if all of Reform's candidates had been vetted in the county.

"I know that our candidates will be held to a higher standard than any of the other parties," said the Clacton MP.

"That's because we are the challengers. We are the ones taking on the establishment. Yet we have done a good, thorough professional job".

Joe Mulhall, director of research at Hope Not Hate, accused Reform of "a systematic failure with the party's vetting".