Nigel Farage is facing calls to suspend a Reform UK MP who said “it drives me mad when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people”.
Labour has written to the party leader asking him to “urgently clarify” whether he endorses the comments made by Sarah Pochin, while the Liberal Democrats have said she must have the whip withdrawn.
Ms Pochin, who became the Reform MP for Runcorn and Helsby after a by-election earlier this year, has said her remarks on Saturday were “phrased poorly” and apologised for any offence caused.
But in a letter to Mr Farage, who is yet to comment publicly on the row, Labour chairwoman Anna Turley said the remarks were “racist” and “your silence is deafening”.
“Do you endorse Sarah Pochin’s comments? And can you confirm if her views on race are welcome in Reform UK?” she wrote on Monday.
“Saying that seeing black and Asian people in TV adverts ‘drives me mad’ is racist. You have the power to withdraw the Reform UK whip from Sarah Pochin.
“You should do it today.”
Meanwhile, the Lib Dems have sought a censure motion in Parliament to formally rebuke Ms Pochin’s words, urging “decent MPs from across party lines” to unite in condemning “this disgraceful behaviour”.
“If racism has no place in his party, as he continues to protest, then Nigel Farage should prove it by withdrawing the whip immediately,” the party’s home affairs spokesman Max Wilkinson said.
“Failure to do this will show total contempt for the vast majority of decent British people.”
Speaking to LBC, shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the way Ms Pochin had made her comments was “racist”, and “it’s right she apologised”.
The Conservative MP for Croydon South said: “She should absolutely not have said that. It was completely wrong.
“She has apologised. I think the way she put it was racist, she shouldn’t have said it and it’s right she’s apologised.”
Zia Yusuf, the head of policy for Reform UK, has said it was right Ms Pochin had apologised, but told Sky News that people must be able to “talk about” representation on television advertising.
During an appearance on TalkTV, the MP had responded to a viewer complaining about the demographics of advertising by saying they were “absolutely right”.
She then added that “it drives me mad when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people”.
Asked why she thought that was wrong, she replied: “It doesn’t reflect our society and I feel that your average white person, average white family is … not represented any more.”
In a later statement, she claimed she had been trying to say the advertising industry had gone “DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) mad”.
“My comments were phrased poorly and I apologise for any offence caused, which was not my intention,” she said.
“The point I was trying to make is that the British advertising agency world have gone DEI mad and many adverts are now unrepresentative of British society as a whole.
“I will endeavour to ensure my language is more accurate going forward.”
