Former Reform councillor faces calls to resign over racist post about Nigerians

Suspended Reform UK councillor Glenn Gibbins is facing mounting pressure to resign from Sunderland City Council after he was convicted over a racist social media post.

In a post on 19 March 2024, Gibbins wrote: “Carnt believe amount of Nigerians in town… should melt them all down and fill in the pot holes!!”.

Gibbins was convicted for posting the “grossly offensive” comment under the Malicious Communications Act on Monday 9 November.

He was handed a 12-month community order with 150 hours of unpaid work. 

During his trial on Monday, Gibbins said his comment was meant to be “cheeky”, “naughty” and “tongue in cheek”. 

He added that the post was “just a bit of fun”. 

The Labour group on Sunderland City Council is calling for Gibbins to resign immediately, stating that his “disgraceful behaviour is unbecoming of a councillor”. 

Responding to his claim that the post was “a bit of fun”, a spokesperson for the Labour group said: “I think it’s vile, I don’t find it funny. It’s not a joke to the Nigerian community of Sunderland either.”

The spokesperson said the Labour group had submitted an emergency question to the Reform mayor, Robert Hutchinson, for discussion today, asking for clarification on whether Gibbins will stand down.

They also said that while Gibbins appeared as an independent councillor on the Sunderland City Council website, councillors were only notified yesterday that Gibbins had been officially removed from the Reform group on the council.

They said that they also don’t know if Gibbins is still in the party. 

Leader of the Lib Dem group on the council, Paul Edgeworth, said he requested an emergency debate about how Reform intends to repair relations with the Nigerian community in Sunderland.

Edgeworth said the Reform mayor had rejected both Labour and the Lib Dems’ emergency questions about Gibbins. 

Reform suspended Gibbins when the post came to light shortly after he was elected as a Sunderland City councillor in May.

However, Reform reinstated him into the party in June with a final written warning on the basis that he had apologised for making the post.

Nigel Farage’s party suspended Gibbins again when he was charged for the Facebook post under the Communications Act 2003.

In July, Chris Eynon, the Reform leader of Sunderland City Council, told the Sunderland Echo that, following Gibbins’s apology and reinstatement to the party, “we move on”. 

“I find it particularly hard to move on from this, I don’t think you can take it lightly,” the Labour councillor said. 

While appearing in court on Monday, Gibbins said that when Reform UK approached him about becoming a candidate, he saw the opportunity partly as a way to make some extra income.

He said he thought that the role would help “tide me over” when business was quieter over the summer months.

Reacting to the reason Gibbins gave for entering politics, the Labour spokesperson said: “That’s not why you get into being a councillor, you do it because you want to help people. Just to be so open about that that you’re doing it for the allowance, it’s really poor.”

Edgeworth said he thinks Gibbins will stay on as a councillor, stating: “I think he’s just going to cling on and claim as much money as he can between now and when his term’s up in May. Whether he’ll stand again, I don’t know”. 

The Lib Dem group leader added that it was “dodgy” that Reform did not remove Gibbins from the Reform group on the council until yesterday, despite the party listing him as an independent councillor since July. 

Gibbins and Reform were approached for comment but did not respond at the time of publication. 

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward