Reform candidate in Southend dropped over racism claims days ahead of election

A SOUTHEND Reform candidate has been deselected days ahead of the General Election amid allegations of racism.

The Reform Party has withdrawn its support for three of its candidates, including Leslie Lilley, who is standing as the parliamentary candidate for Southend East and Rochford.

Mr Lilley had been mooted to be in line to get 20 per cent of the vote on Thursday, according to recent polling, but he has been dropped by the party after he is alleged to have said he would “slaughter” migrants arriving in small boats in a Facebook post he allegedly made in 2020.

According to a Times article, Mr Lilley is also alleged to have reacted to the news of a small boat arriving in Dover saying: “I hope I’m near one of the scumbags one day I won’t run away I’ll slaughter them then have their family taken out.”

Reform’s withdrawal of support comes after party leader Nigel Farage faced accusations from across the political divide of failing to tackle allegations of racism within Reform which have engulfed the party.

Addressing an audience of thousands in Birmingham on Sunday, Mr Farage said: “Look, Reform is a new organisation. It’s a start-up and there were requests put out for candidates to stand. Have we had a few bad apples?

“We have, although to my knowledge nobody involved in an organised betting ring is standing for us, which is something.”

He added: “I have to say, the bad apples are gone. We’ll never have them back.”

Asked if he would withdraw his support from “these people”, Mr Farage said: “I wouldn’t want anything to do with them, people like Lilley, what he said is criminal.”

Mr Lilley will still be on the ballot paper as the Reform candidate despite the party pulling support for him.

Other candidates in Southend East and Rochford are Bayo Alaba (Lab), Gavin Haran (Con), Lee Clark (Confelicity), James Allen (Lib Dems), Simon Cross (Greens), Bianca Isherwood (Heritage).