Reform UK has suspended a prospective parliamentary candidate after undercover footage captured him advocating concentration camps for asylum seekers and declaring that Muslims cannot be British, according to The Guardian.
Jason Powell was filmed during a year-long ITV investigation that included an event celebrating Nigel Farage’s re-election as MP for Clacton in the recent by-election. Powell told the undercover reporter he had successfully passed the party’s vetting process to stand as a candidate.
In the recordings, which form part of a documentary set to air in full on Sunday night, Powell outlined his proposed policy for asylum seekers arriving by boat. He called for concentration camps to be built immediately after an election, saying that everyone crossing the Channel should be detained and given an ultimatum about their country of origin or face indefinite imprisonment.
Powell also stated he was “pretty hardline about Islam”, targeting Zia Yusuf, Reform’s home affairs spokesperson. He claimed that being Muslim and British was incompatible, comparing the two identities to “oil and water”.
Councillors call for mass executions
The investigation also recorded two Reform councillors in London advocating the execution of grooming gang members. Adam Parkins said that as prime minister he would “quite happily do Sunday morning rose garden executions”, whilst his colleague on Hounslow council, David Kerr, described lining up thousands of perpetrators and machine-gunning them down.
Despite the severity of the comments, Reform UK confirmed that neither Parkins nor Kerr is under investigation by the party. Both councillors were approached for comment but have not responded.
A third figure captured in the documentary, Dean Miller, was elected as a Reform councillor in Bromley but now sits as an independent. He allegedly called for King Charles to be beheaded because he believed the monarch was secretly a Muslim. Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors in the south London borough have called for Miller to resign.
Questions over vetting procedures
The revelations have intensified scrutiny of Reform UK’s candidate vetting process. Speaking earlier this week, Farage defended the party’s procedures, arguing that “you can’t vet people for what they say in the future”.
In a statement, Reform UK said it had improved and prioritised its vetting procedures but acknowledged that “from time to time a handful of individuals who do not share our values will initially make it through vetting”. The party added that no organisation could vet future comments, regardless of how thorough the process.
Powell later told ITV that his views reflected those of the British public in general and should not be considered extremist.
The Muslim Council of Britain, the UK’s largest Muslim umbrella organisation, dismissed the significance of Powell’s suspension. A spokesperson said the party’s leadership must take “full responsibility for the culture of hatred that they have allowed to fester and mainstream within their organisation”, noting that previous suspensions had sometimes been quietly reversed weeks later.
What this means for Poles in the UK
For Polish residents in Britain, these revelations underscore the importance of monitoring the rhetoric and policy positions of all political parties, particularly those with a strong focus on immigration. While the comments target asylum seekers and Muslims specifically, hardline anti-immigration sentiment can affect public discourse around all migrant communities, including EU citizens who have made the UK their home.
Poles living in the UK under settled or pre-settled status are not directly affected by proposals targeting asylum seekers. However, the broader political climate shapes attitudes towards immigration policy, funding for integration services, and workplace protections. If you experience discrimination or hate speech, you can report incidents to the police via 101 or True Vision, the national hate crime reporting website. Citizens Advice and Polish community organisations such as the Polish Social and Cultural Association can also offer guidance on your rights.
