Councillor's social media post sparks protest

More than 100 people staged a protest over a West Yorkshire Reform UK councillor's social media comments about immigrants.

In screenshots of an alleged Facebook post seen by the BBC, Reform councillor for Colne Valley West Tracy Clayton used the phrases "invaders" and "third world animals" and claimed there had been "gang rapes on the beach".

A protest was held outside Huddersfield Town Hall on Wednesday over the comments, with organiser Nick Ruff of Stand Up To Racism calling for Clayton to resign.

Reform UK previously described Clayton's comments as "completely correct", adding in a statement on Thursday: "Grooming gang perpetrators are animals. It's odd that these protesters disagree."

Earlier this month, opposition parties and the four local Labour MPs in Kirklees said the comments had been "extremely offensive".

Harpreet Uppal (Huddersfield), Paul Davies (Colne Valley), Kim Leadbeater (Spen Valley) and Jade Botterill (Ossett and Denby Dale) released a joint statement in which they said there was a "clear distinction between legitimate debate about immigration policy and language that dehumanises people based on their nationality, ethnicity or immigration status".

Ruff said Wednesday's turnout "reflects the view of the people of Kirklees" and called on Reform UK leader Nigel Farage to suspend Clayton and investigate the comments.

One of the protesters, Nadia Sethi, said: "It's absolutely appalling, it's really disgusting and as a British-born Muslim female that wears a hijab, it's really insulting to think that I contribute to this country just as much as the next person and it's just not on, it needs to stop."

Bash Arlam, who had also joined the protest, said: "When you start victimising and dehumanising people who live in your country and participate, it is a slippery slope.

"We definitely have issues in this country, but we need to solve them together, not by singling out a single group of people."

Alongside people protesting over the comments were a small number of people protesting over Kirklees Council's decision to scrap its climate emergency declaration.

A Reform spokesperson told the BBC that Britain had become "completely unrecognisable as a result of mass migration and the invasion of over 211,000 illegal immigrants since 2018, many of whom bring with them cultures that are completely incompatible with our own and go on to commit the most heinous crimes".

They added: "Many people in Kirklees will sympathise with Tracy's comments."

Clayton has been contacted for comment.

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