Reform UK councillor resigns over racist posts

A Reform UK councillor elected last week to seats on Essex County Council and Rochford District Council has resigned from both positions and had his party membership revoked following accusations of racist social media posts.

Stuart Prior, 54, won the Rayleigh West division on Essex County Council with 2,404 votes, a majority of 796 over the Liberal Democrats candidate. He also secured the Sweyne Park and Grange ward on Rochford District Council with 911 votes, or about 40 percent of the total, defeating the Conservative candidate. The elections took place last Thursday, with Reform UK gaining a majority on Essex County Council by winning 53 of 78 seats and taking all 13 contested seats on Rochford District Council, where no single party holds overall control.

The resignation came days later, after the campaign group Hope Not Hate highlighted social media posts attributed to Prior. These included claims that white people were the "master race" who could "do as they please" and had larger brains than Black people, as well as comments referring to Muslims as "dirt" and "rats," suggesting genocide could not be committed against them, and using slurs against Black people and...