The Reform UK party has dropped three of its candidates for making offensive or racist comments, including Edward Oakenfull, who posted derogatory comments about the IQ of sub-Saharan Africans on social media.

The other two candidates disowned by the party are Robert Lomas, a candidate in Barnsley North, and Leslie Lilley, standing in Southend East and Rochford constituency.

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However, a party spokesman said the trio will still appear on the ballot paper as Reform candidates as it is too late for them to be removed, adding that, if any of the three were elected they would sit as independent MPs.

Reform Leader, Nigel Farage, had earlier disowned the candidates when asked about their remarks, stating that “I want nothing to do with them.”

Mr Lomas reportedly said black people should “get off [their] lazy arses” and stop acting “like savages”. The comments were reported by the Times on 8 June, with Reform at the time claiming they were “out of context part quotations” and it needed more time to respond.

On his part, Candidate Lilley reportedly described people arriving on small boats as “scum” in a social media post, adding: “I hope your family get robbed, beaten or attacked.”

Since the start of the election campaign, Reform has faced persistent questions over its selection of candidates, after numerous examples of offensive social media posts emerged.

But the party blamed a company it hired to conduct background checks on would-be candidates, claiming it failed to carry out vetting before the election was called.

The Star