Another Reform candidate resigns after vetting failure – and councils are forced to pick up the bill

Stuart Prior, one of Reform UK’s 53 new councilors in Essex, was heading for the door after tendering his resignation just days after being elected.

Six months ago, he allegedly wrote social media posts in which he celebrated the rape of a Sikh woman in the Midlands, described Muslim people as “rats” and wrote that white people were the “master race”.

encountered Mirror Regarding the pre-election posts, Mr Prior said he had “no recollection” of the tweets, although the journalist noted that posts from the same account included pictures of the candidate’s house and dog.

Regardless, he remains a candidate for Reform and won seats on both Essex County Council and Rochford District Council last Friday. The first was a major victory for Nigel Farage’s party, securing a majority mandate to end 25 years of Conservative control.

These councils will now have to hold by-elections to fill vacant seats just a few months after local elections across the country, each of which will cost tens of thousands of pounds.

Mr Farage has repeatedly insisted candidates are properly vetted and the party’s processes are as tough as its rivals, but some Reform candidates have been accused of making racist and offensive comments on social media in the weeks before local elections.

This is not a new problem for Reformation. Since May last year, 17 of the party’s council members have vacated their seats. In 12 of these cases (70 per cent) there were circumstances relating to scrutiny or conduct issues, a lack of council duties or underlying administrative issues that went unnoticed.

By comparison, Labor has seen a similar loss rate in its 2025 cohort, losing three councilors out of a total of 98 so far. However, none resigned due to investigative issues, and one resulted in death.

It is estimated that 11 of 12 former Reform councilors will cost local taxpayers £287,000 in by-election costs. Independent Freedom of Information requests reveal the rising cost of Reformation’s inadequate or unprepared candidates.

The cost of the two by-elections triggered by Mr Prior’s resignation is estimated to be a further £35,000, bringing the total to £322,000, Rochford council estimates. Unlike general elections, which are financed by the central government, local election costs are covered by the authority in which they are held.

Replying to Independent’s Reform argued in the analysis that this figure was “misleading” and pointed out that the total cost from by-elections triggered by the resignations of Labor and Conservative councilors in the same period was an estimated £1.3 million. Following the May 2025 elections, the two parties had a total of 10,527 councilors and Reform 804.

The party’s first resignation after the 2025 local election was Andrew Kilburn, who left Durham Council just nine days after it was revealed he was an employee of the local authority and therefore ineligible to stand.

Staffordshire County Council’s Wayne Titley resigned just two weeks after being elected, following criticism over Facebook posts published before the election in which he advocated sinking small boats trying to reach England with “gun volleys”.

Similarly, Lynn Dean stood down from Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council in April after being suspended from Reform for allegedly publishing racist posts about X. His vacant seat was scheduled to be contested on May 7 as part of the wider local election and he remains an independent councilor on Staffordshire County Council.

Barry Martin, also from Staffordshire council, was the last person elected in 2025 and resigned earlier this week. The former councilor had two formal complaints against him over his social media activities, which were confirmed by the authority last year; He allegedly wrote shortly after being selected that the role was “too dull and boring” and that he was “considering resigning.” Reform council leader Martin Murray said Mr Martin resigned for health reasons and family loss.

Other situations include:

Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office spokeswoman Lisa Smart said: “If Nigel Farage had spent half as much time vetting his candidates as he did searching for a TV camera, he could have avoided burdening British taxpayers with a huge bill for his party’s incompetence.

“Reform’s record of dodgy councilors is eye-wateringly expensive for the British public and proves Farage’s party is unfit for office. Local communities deserve better.”

Asked in April whether all of Reform’s candidates in Essex had been vetted, Mr Farage said: “I know our candidates will be held to a higher standard than other parties.

“Because we are the challengers. We are the ones who took over the establishment. Yet we did a good and thorough professional job,” he added.

Open Britain chief executive Mark Kieran said candidates put forward for political office must be “serious people” who are qualified to do the job.

He said: “Voters elected these councilors in good faith, expecting a well-funded party like Reform UK to do reasonable due diligence and expect the councilors they elect to stick around long enough to deliver on their campaign promises.

“Now Reform’s retarded package review has stymied democratic representation for voters and left them facing a collective £300,000 bill, with scarce funds from libraries, social care and waste collections exhausted.”

Independent Tried to contact Mr Prior.

A Reform UK spokesperson said: “This analysis is a transparently selective and highly misleading attempt to manufacture a political attack on Reform UK.

“The fact that last year the Conservatives and Labor cost taxpayers at least £1.3 million in local by-election costs is conveniently ignored. In this parliament alone, Labor has cost the public purse almost £1 million following the resignation of two scandal-stricken MPs. Now the public is expected to pay a further £500,000 for a by-election in Makerfield as a result of Labour’s internal psychodrama.”