Reform caught out once again...
Reform councillor and right-wing activist Darren Grimes has admitted to using an AI generated image in blog post about refugees and homeless people being ‘shipped’ to the north.
Grimes, who used to be a presenter on GB News, published a blog post in which he claimed that London councils are “quietly shifting” their tenants “hundreds of miles north”, linking the issue to Durham’s housing waiting lists.
He shared a link to his blogpost on Facebook, with the words: “They are block-booking cheap houses in our former pit villages and shipping families hundreds of miles to County Durham.
“It is a scandal. It is antidemocratic. And it is stopping.
“We are consulting on changing the rules. If you want a council house here, you will need a two-year local connection.”
The post featured a picture of around a dozen non-white men in tracksuits next to a coach on a housing estate. The picture led to Grimes supporters commenting on it, with one social media user writing: “They’ve got all the latest gear on, who has provided that?”.
However, other social media users were quick to point out that it was an AI-generated image. Asked about use of the image by the Independent, Grimes told the paper that it was “entirely predictable that the left-wing media is hyperventilating over an AI-generated stock image instead of the fact that southern councils are using the North as a dumping ground for their housing failures and mass migration.”
He went on to claim that people are being pushed to the back of the queue of housing waiting lists because of what’s happening.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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