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.”
Following the announcement the Prince and Princess of Wales were expecting their second child, Charlotte, Mr Wade said: “Yet another royal scrounger on the way, I wonder how much this one will cost us?”
The Independent has reached out to Mr Wade for comment.
Critics called the remarks “offensive” and said Mr Wade should be sacked, adding that his candidacy makes a mockery of Nigel Farage’s claims Reform is the party of British patriots.
Mike Tapp, a Labour MP and fervent anti-Reform campaigner, said: “Farage wraps himself in our great flag, but votes against workers’ rights and wants people to pay for healthcare. He rejects British values, so it’s no surprise that there are more Reform fake patriots and opportunists out there.”
The Dover MP, who argues Labour is the party of British values, added: “It’s offensive.”
James Frith, Labour MP for Bury North, said: “People across the North West and the whole UK will be appalled at these appalling remarks about our late Queen.
“Nigel Farage has been boasting about Reform’s high vetting standards. Well, clearly they did a lousy job and Farage should sack this candidate immediately for these appalling slurs.
“Unless he acts, then people will come to the conclusion that such offensive and unpatriotic attitudes are acceptable to Reform. They should be ashamed.”
A Reform UK spokesperson said: “We won’t take any lectures on patriotism from the party that allowed Jeremy Corbyn to be its leader and who are currently allowing record levels of illegal immigration into the country.”
The calls come just days after Mr Farage boasted that Reform has put forward 1,638 candidates for the 1 May local elections, with nominations in 99.8 per cent of the seats up for grabs.
The Reform leader said: “I said the day after the general election last year that my mission was to professionalise the party.
“Since that day we have formed 400 branches, increased our membership to 221,000 and now have a full slate of candidates for the elections on May 1st.
“I am immensely proud of our small, professional team and our wonderful volunteers all over the country.”
Mr Farage promised in September that the party’s vetting process would be “rigorous”. During the general election, Reform was hit by a series of revelations about the online activities of some of its would-be MPs, including suggestions the UK should have remained neutral in the fight against the Nazis and admiration of Adolf Hitler’s “brilliant” ability to inspire action.
Calls for Mr Wade to be suspended come after Reform suspended a council candidate in Oxfordshire who had claimed Jimmy Savile was a “working class hero” and his “role model”.
Labour has separately attacked Reform as a rebranded version of the Conservatives, with more than 60 of its local election candidates being Tory defectors.
A Labour spokesperson said: “A snake might shed its skin but at the end of the day it’s still a snake. Is that why so many of Nigel Farage’s council candidates are slithering away from their years serving the Tory party?
“Farage claims to be a breath of political fresh air, but he just hoovered up 60 candidates who failed our country as card-carrying Conservatives.”
A Reform spokesman said of these remarks: “This is less than 4 per cent of all our 1,630 candidates. Is this the same Labour party that accepted the defections of then-Conservative MPs Christian Wakeford and Natalie Elphicke?”
