UK Reform councilors resign in protest against Nigel Farage

Ten Reform UK councilors in Derbyshire say they have resigned in protest at Nigel Farage’s leadership.

The group claimed that they had to take the decision due to the “increasingly autocratic manner” of running the party, and said that they felt that since Farage took over as leader, the party had “lost its sense of direction”. Is”.

The leader of the Derbyshire group, Alex Stevenson, was suspended as a member in December pending an internal investigation.

A Reform spokesperson said that some of the candidates they fielded for the local elections had not passed the party’s vetting process.

Stevenson, who stood for Reform UK in Amber Valley in the general election and came second, did not deny this.

“Apparently one of them shared a post from Tommy Robinson a few years ago,” he told the BBC. “We have no problem with that.”

He said the councillor, whom he did not name, was a “good person”.

In a statement seen by the BBC and first reported by the Guardian, the group said: “We believe that the current party management is either incompetent or malicious, and we have lost all confidence in the leadership and its structures.”

The ten signatories include Councilor Stevenson and nine others, who hold a mix of seats at county, city and parish level.

Nine of the ten appear to be standing on Heanor and Losco Town Council in Derbyshire.

He said he had voted against the party’s constitution adopted in the autumn and that “the lack of internal democracy remains a significant issue”.

The signatories said: “We have not taken any meaningful steps towards democratizing the party, which we were promised.”

Councilors supported former co-deputy leader Ben Habib, who they say has been “unofficially sidelined”.

In a statement on X, Reform UK chair Zia Yousaf said: The leader of this group of “councillors” was suspended by Reform weeks ago for nominating candidates who failed checks (and) illegal DNOs. Candidates with certificates were enrolled fraudulently.

“(As a result of the latter), many of these ‘councillors’ are illegal and new elections must be held. Reform is to the highest standards in public life, and those who commit fraud will always be expelled.”

This comes after US tech billionaire Elon Musk called Farage “It’s not what I want” to lead the party – but he did not explain his reasoning.