'Terrible' Reform vetting 'costing the public purse tens of thousands', council veteran claims

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Tudor Evans OBE, the Labour leader on Plymouth Council, said the "desperation" of Nigel Farage's party to fill ballot papers saw the selection of councillors such as Ben Rowe, who was suspended after it emerged he had shared posts on social media depicting Muslims being bombed at Mecca.

Mr Evans alleges Rowe, who was elected to the Plymouth Ham Ward in May, has taken “over a month to decide whether to sign his papers” officially accepting the job, meaning he was being paid as a councillor while he was suspended by Reform.

Mr Evans said: “He earned a thousand pounds in wages while he was sitting on his backside twiddling his thumbs, and he'll continue to earn a thousand pounds a month if he does nothing at all”.

Rowe's suspension from Reform UK came just days after May's local elections, following an LBC which revealed he shared the offensive posts on social media.

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Despite his suspension, Mr Rowe could have signed papers confirming his role as an independent councillor which would have allowed him to carry out ward work. But LBC has confirmed he waited to find out whether he’d been reinstated into Reform UK to officially accept his role.

Reform UK told LBC: "Following an internal disciplinary process, Cllr Rowe has been readmitted to the party and issued with a final written warning. He has accepted responsibility for his poor online conduct and apologised and made clear the comments do not reflect his beliefs.”

But Evans claims Rowe should never have been allowed back into Reform UK, saying: “I thought Farage would have lobbed him and kept him lobbed out because I can't understand what the investigation has revealed that we didn't already know, which is that he's made these remarks, he thinks like this and he doesn't reflect well on the council and certainly doesn't reflect well on Reform”.

Mr Evans told LBC: “I've been able to work cross party with previous people in the ward who are not Labour. But I can't see how I can possibly work with this piece of work. I really can't. We have nothing in common. I find his remarks and his attitude completely unacceptable. I cannot find common cause with him. So, I'm in a position where normally I try and reach out and work cross party where we can, because that's what you have to do. But remarks like his, views like his are completely unacceptable and it's not something I can do or will do, I'm afraid”.

Aside from the post depicting a bomb being dropped on Mecca, LBC has previously revealed a post shared by the now-councillor depicting Patrick from SpongeBob as a Muslim with a child bride.

LBC has previously asked Mr Rowe for a comment about the posts and was told he “will not comment on the matter,” but it’s been reported that he posted on Facebook to say the posts had been taken out of context and that he had shared them years ago – although it appears this post has also since been removed.

Rowe isn’t the only Reform UK councillor to have been suspended and recently reinstated into the party. Glenn Gibbins, who was elected to represent the Hylton Castle ward on Sunderland City Council in May, was suspended over allegations he called for Nigerians “melted” to fill potholes. But Reform confirmed he too has been reinstated, saying "he has apologised for making the post and accepts that it was made in extremely poor taste showing poor judgement."

Since the local elections in May at least seven Reform UK councillors have resigned, triggering costly by-elections.

Councillor Tudor Evans claims this speaks to a wider issue: “Reform’s vetting is terrible. It's quite clearly terrible because they clearly didn't do any research into him before they allowed him to stand. But they were desperate to fill these seats. They were ringing people up who were not in their party, asking them to stand, and all in the last few weeks and months before the Election”.

Reform UK say the party has “some of the strongest vetting procedures in the country”.