Nigel Farage says candidates won’t be banned from standing if they’ve liked posts by far-right thug Tommy Robinson

A racism scandal continues to engulf Reform UK after party leader Nigel Farage refused to confirm that his party would ban candidates from standing for office if they had liked posts made by far-right thug Tommy Robinson.

Farage was asked by the BBC’s Nick Robinson if it would be ok for members and candidates in Reform UK to like posts by Robinson, founder of the far-right English Defence League (EDL) to which Farage replied: “That depends what the post is to a large extent.”

He went on to add: “I’m not going to run a party where we say you can’t talk about that person or that person, we have to be sensible about vetting.”

Farage has always tried to insist that vetting is at a high standard for Reform and yet the party’s candidates, councillors and members continue to be exposed for expressing racist, Islamophobic and misgoynistic views.

A recent undercover ITV documentary exposed party activists and councillors for harbouring racist views. Councillor Alan Feeney in Solihull, was recorded saying that the area had been “infested” with Asian families, who he referred to as “absolute parasites”.

Mr Feeney also said of Asian people: “Drag them out of their homes, stick them on planes and f*** them off to Pakistan.”

An unnamed Reform activist said that Muslims like the party’s home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf, could not be British and also claimed that asylum seekers should be put in “concentration camps”

Rather than tackling the widespread racism in Reform, Farage now says he won’t automatically ban candidates from office who have liked posts by Robinson.

Robinson was the leader of the EDL, which often organised protests that descended into violence and thuggery against Muslim communities. He was also a member of the BNP and has served time in prison for contempt of court.