{"version":"1.9","identifier":"222e763f-b3a0-4f0b-aca2-124f3364beec","language":"en-US","title":"Equality watchdog asks Reform UK how it complies with the law after ITV undercover film","layout":{"columns":7,"width":1024,"margin":32,"gutter":20},"componentLayouts":{"text":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"maximumContentWidth":720,"margin":{"top":12,"bottom":12}},"photo":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"margin":{"top":20,"bottom":20}}},"componentTextStyles":{"default":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"textColor":"#171717"},"headline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue-Bold","fontSize":36,"lineHeight":42,"conditional":[{"conditions":{"maxViewportWidth":480},"fontSize":28,"lineHeight":34}]},"intro":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":20,"lineHeight":28,"textColor":"#555555"},"caption":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":19,"textColor":"#666666"},"byline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":20,"textColor":"#666666"},"body":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"paragraphSpacingAfter":14,"linkStyle":{"textColor":"#00704a"}}},"metadata":{"canonicalURL":"https://567politics.com/news/ehrc-reform-uk-letter-itv-undercover-equality-act-november-2026","datePublished":"2026-11-02T20:15:30.648992Z","dateModified":"2026-11-02T20:16:31.673245Z","authors":["567politics News Desk"],"excerpt":"The regulator is assessing complaints about remarks by Reform councillors and candidates but has not decided on an investigation. Reform says it complied.","thumbnailURL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/222e763f-b3a0-4f0b-aca2-124f3364beec/3e3b6af8a3660a9a58db441c0934fd00.jpg","keywords":["policy"],"generatorName":"Frog News","generatorVersion":"1.0"},"components":[{"role":"title","text":"Equality watchdog asks Reform UK how it complies with the law after ITV undercover film","textStyle":"headline","layout":"text"},{"role":"intro","text":"The regulator is assessing complaints about remarks by Reform councillors and candidates but has not decided on an investigation. Reform says it complied.","textStyle":"intro","layout":"text"},{"role":"byline","text":"By 567politics News Desk · Published November 2, 2026","textStyle":"byline","layout":"text"},{"role":"photo","URL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/222e763f-b3a0-4f0b-aca2-124f3364beec/3e3b6af8a3660a9a58db441c0934fd00.jpg","caption":"Reform UK leader Nigel Farage speaking in Las Vegas in May 2025. Photo: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)","accessibilityCaption":"Reform UK leader Nigel Farage speaking in Las Vegas in May 2025. Photo: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0","layout":"photo"},{"role":"caption","text":"Reform UK leader Nigel Farage speaking in Las Vegas in May 2025. Photo: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)","textStyle":"caption","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"Britain's equality regulator has asked Reform UK to explain what it is doing to comply with the Equality Act 2010, after an ITV undercover documentary. The film recorded several of the party's councillors and candidates making racist, anti-Muslim and sexist remarks. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said on Monday, November 2, that it had written to the party and was assessing complaints it received after the broadcast. It stressed that it has not decided whether to take enforcement action or open a formal investigation.\n\nThe letter is a preliminary step, not a finding. But it puts [Nigel Farage](https://567politics.com/politicians/nigel-farage)'s party in the same position as the Green Party of England and Wales, which got a similar letter last month. It also revives an old question for British parties. When does offensive speech by members become a legal problem for the party itself?\n\n## What the regulator said\n\nIn a [statement published on November 2](https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/news/ehrc-writes-reform-uk-about-concerns-raised-following-itv-news-investigation), an EHRC spokesperson said the commission had written to Reform UK \"regarding concerns expressed following ITV News' investigation, 'Undercover: A Year in Reform', which aired last month.\" It said it had \"asked for more information including what action the party is taking to comply with the Equality Act 2010.\"\n\nThe regulator said it had received complaints \"alleging unlawful activity under the Equality Act 2010, including concerns about racial and sexual remarks expressed by councillors, prospective councillors and members.\" It added: \"As with every complaint we receive, we will assess the information provided carefully and, following that consideration, take action where appropriate.\"\n\nThe statement also set out the commission's view of the competing rights involved. \"The right to freedom of expression and the right to be free from discrimination are not mutually exclusive and must be considered together,\" it said. It urged \"those in positions of authority to balance these rights appropriately and respectfully.\"\n\nA background note said the commission considers evidence about complaints \"as part of its standard triage process.\" It added that \"no decision on any potential enforcement action, including launching a formal investigation, has been taken.\"\n\nThe Telegraph [reported](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/11/02/reform-questioned-equalities-watchdog-over-itv-expose/) that the commission said dozens of MPs had urged it to investigate. The EHRC's published statement does not give a number, and 567 Politics has not seen the correspondence the Telegraph described.\n\n## Reform's response\n\nA Reform UK spokesperson told [the Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/nov/02/ehrc-raises-concern-with-reform-about-racial-and-sexual-remarks-in-documentary): \"We are confident we have fully complied with our obligations under the Equality Act. There is no room for racism in Reform UK.\"\n\nFarage was asked about the letter at a press conference in London on Monday evening. \"We are entirely confident that our employment procedures and our vetting procedures are as rigorous as any other party in this country,\" he said, according to [the Independent](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/reform-nigel-farage-echr-itv-documentary-b3077787.html). \"What you can't legislate against, what you can't vet against, is people saying stupid things in certain circumstances.\"\n\nThat line repeats the party's main defense since the first clips aired. In an October 15 [interview with BBC Look East](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crlykvgx1wvxo), Farage said Reform vets candidates \"to a much higher standard than the other parties\" but that \"you can't vet for future comments.\"\n\n## What the documentary showed\n\nITV's investigations unit said its reporters spent about a year undercover with Reform candidates and councillors, covering the May 2026 local elections and four by-election campaigns in 2025 and 2026. The first [report from ITV News](https://www.itv.com/news/2026-10-14/inside-reform-councillors-extreme-and-racist-views-on-camera), on October 14, focused on a handful of local figures.\n\nAlan Feeney, then a Reform councillor and deputy mayor of Solihull, was recorded describing Asian homeowners as \"absolute parasites\" and saying that \"no more than one percent of British population can be non-white.\" ITV reported that he described skipping doors with Asian names while canvassing. A councillor from Bromley in south London, Dean Miller, was recorded calling Black children \"animals\" and saying King Charles should be beheaded because, he claimed, the King was secretly Muslim. Two Solihull candidates who later became councillors, Jamie Campbell and Chris Whelan, were filmed joking about burying pork to stop a rumored mosque, and Whelan made sexually aggressive remarks about female Reform candidates.\n\nITV also aired footage of two Hounslow councillors talking about concealing unpopular plans from voters. \"The stuff that people feel uncomfortable with, don't even announce it just do it,\" Councillor Adam Parkins was recorded saying. And it showed Sarah Pochin, Reform's MP for Runcorn and Helsby, telling an undercover reporter that the party was \"chauvinistic\" and that \"they just exclude you if you're a woman,\" [ITV News reported](https://www.itv.com/news/2026-10-16/reform-uk-reaction-after-undercover-investigation-by-itv-exposure). Robert Jenrick, Reform's Treasury spokesman, told BBC Radio 4's Today program: \"That's not my experience of Reform.\"\n\nSome of those filmed responded. Miller told ITV he was heavily medicated for a chronic pain condition when he spoke. A Pontypridd branch treasurer, Martin Roberts, said he regretted language he called inappropriate but denied being a bigot. Reform's Solihull branch said Campbell's remark \"was a joke in poor taste but with no malicious intent,\" [the BBC reported](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crlykvgx1wvxo).\n\n## Who has left, and who has not\n\nBy October 16, ITV News had reported the status of the seven councillors featured in the investigation. The table below summarizes that account; 567 Politics has not independently confirmed later changes.","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"},{"role":"htmltable","html":"<table><tr><th>Councillor</th><th>Council(s)</th><th>Status reported Oct 16</th></tr><tr><td>Alan Feeney</td><td>Solihull; Birmingham</td><td>Resigned seats and deputy mayor role</td></tr><tr><td>Jamie Campbell</td><td>Solihull</td><td>Left party and council seat</td></tr><tr><td>Chris Whelan</td><td>Solihull</td><td>Left party and council seat</td></tr><tr><td>Raymond Dunning</td><td>Tameside</td><td>Left party; independent councillor</td></tr><tr><td>Dean Miller</td><td>Bromley</td><td>Left party; independent councillor</td></tr><tr><td>Adam Parkins</td><td>Hounslow</td><td>Still a Reform councillor</td></tr><tr><td>David Kerr</td><td>Hounslow</td><td>Still a Reform councillor</td></tr></table>","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"ITV also said a Reform councillor in Hampshire and Portsmouth, George Madgwick, remained in post. Jenrick said Reform had more than 2,000 councillors and 280,000 members, according to the same ITV report. ITV put the number of Reform councillors at more than 2,300. Recordings of a small number of people, however offensive, do not show what share of a membership that large holds similar views, and neither side has produced data that would settle the question.\n\n## The dispute over ITV's methods\n\nReform has answered the documentary partly by challenging how it was made. The party's home affairs spokesman, Zia Yusuf, said Reform had reported ITV journalists and the broadcaster's board to police, [Press Gazette reported](https://pressgazette.co.uk/news/reform-says-it-has-reported-itv-to-the-police-over-undercover-investigation/). He alleged that an undercover reporter \"doctored\" her passport to get a job in Reform's press office and that two reporters were paid while canvassing in Portsmouth, which he said breached election law. \"Journalists are supposed to report the news. These ones set out to create it,\" he said.\n\nThe Metropolitan Police said it received a report on October 14 making \"a number of allegations\" about the production of a television program. Officers were assessing them. Hampshire Constabulary said it was \"reviewing material\" about alleged electoral offenses in Portsmouth, [LBC reported](https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/police-reform-itv-election-documentary-5HjdkPW_2/). Neither force had announced an investigation in the reports 567 Politics reviewed. ITV said the program \"was produced in compliance with the Ofcom Broadcasting Code, relevant laws, and its broadcast is in the public interest.\" The National Union of Journalists called Reform's legal threats \"a thinly-masked Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) style move.\"\n\nThese are allegations by each side. No court or regulator has ruled on the journalists' conduct, and the EHRC's letter concerns the party's legal duties, not the broadcaster's.\n\n## What the Equality Act requires of parties\n\nThe EHRC's [guide for political parties](https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/guidance/equality-act-2010-guide-political-parties) explains that most parties count as \"associations\" under the Act. That means members and people seeking to join are protected from discrimination, harassment and victimization in access to party benefits such as meetings, candidate selection and internal votes. The guide says parties can reduce legal risk by training anyone acting on their behalf and by taking complaints of discrimination, harassment or victimization \"very seriously.\"\n\nThe same guide also states a limit. It says those investigating complaints should understand that party members are entitled to hold protected beliefs, to criticize people who do not share them and to organize with members who do. Holding or voicing offensive opinions is not, by itself, a breach. The legal question is usually whether a party is responsible for conduct that amounts to discrimination or harassment. That can happen through people acting as its agents. It can also happen if its own rules and complaint handling put members with a protected characteristic at a disadvantage.\n\n## The Labour precedent\n\nThe best-known use of these powers against a party came in 2020. After complaints from Campaign Against Antisemitism and the Jewish Labour Movement, the EHRC opened an investigation into the Labour Party in May 2019. Its [October 2020 findings](https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/news/news/investigation-antisemitism-labour-party-finds-unlawful-acts-discrimination-and-harassment) held Labour responsible for three breaches of the Act: political interference in antisemitism complaints, inadequate training for complaint handlers, and harassment.\n\nThe harassment finding turned on two people the commission treated as acting as Labour's agents, including former London mayor [Ken Livingstone](https://567politics.com/politicians/ken-livingstone). The commission found 18 more \"borderline\" cases where it could not establish the party's legal responsibility. It noted that Labour \"cannot be held directly responsible\" under the Act for the conduct of ordinary members with no office or role. Among 70 complaint files it reviewed, it found 23 instances of inappropriate interference.\n\nThat precedent cuts in two directions for Reform. Several of the people ITV filmed were elected councillors or candidates, the kind of figures the commission examined closely in Labour's case. But the 2020 investigation also showed that the regulator's test is about party responsibility and process, not simply about offensive speech, and it took about 17 months from launch to findings.\n\n```diagram\ntype: timeline\ntitle: The EHRC, political parties and the ITV documentary\nsource: [EHRC](https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/news/ehrc-writes-reform-uk-about-concerns-raised-following-itv-news-investigation), [ITV News](https://www.itv.com/news/2026-10-14/inside-reform-councillors-extreme-and-racist-views-on-camera), [LBC](https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/labour-mps-demand-probe-islamophobia-reform-5HjdZnM_2/)\n---\n2019-05: EHRC opens investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party\n2020-10-29: EHRC finds Labour responsible for three breaches of the Equality Act\n2026-05-27: 27 MPs ask the EHRC for a formal investigation of Reform UK over alleged Islamophobia\n2026-10-14: ITV News publishes first findings of its undercover investigation\n2026-10-15: EHRC writes to the Green Party over its \"Zionism is racism\" motion\n2026-10-18: Full documentary scheduled on ITV1\n2026-11-02: EHRC writes to Reform UK asking how it is complying with the Act\n```\n\n## Earlier calls for scrutiny\n\nMonday's letter follows earlier pressure. In May, 27 MPs, 26 of them Labour plus independent MP Diane Abbott, wrote to EHRC chair Mary-Ann Stephenson asking for a \"formal investigation\" into alleged Islamophobia in Reform, [LBC reported](https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/labour-mps-demand-probe-islamophobia-reform-5HjdZnM_2/). Afzal Khan, the Labour MP for Manchester Rusholme, who coordinated the letter, said Reform had \"consistently failed to tackle their growing Islamophobia problem.\" The letter listed comments it described as Islamophobic going back to 2014, including Farage's support for banning mass religious observances. A Reform spokesperson responded at the time, according to Sky News as cited by LBC: \"We stand by our comments. We will not be intimidated.\"\n\nThe parallel with the Greens matters for how the commission's move is read. On October 15, the EHRC [wrote to the Green Party](https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/news/ehrc-writes-green-party-over-zionism-racism-motion) after complaints about a motion the party adopted declaring \"Zionism is racism.\" Complainants said Jewish people could face discrimination as a result. That letter said no decision on enforcement had been taken, the same wording used for Reform. Green leader [Zack Polanski](https://567politics.com/politicians/zack-polanski)'s party replied that it \"will not discriminate against or exclude people for holding Zionist views,\" [the BBC reported](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cmly0np1gldvo). The same motion led Labour on Monday to [end power-sharing with the Greens in 11 councils](https://567politics.com/news/labour-ends-green-council-power-sharing-zionism-motion-november-2026).\n\n## How the parties have reacted\n\nResponses to the documentary itself have followed party lines, though with differences in emphasis. Prime Minister [Andy Burnham](https://567politics.com/politicians/andy-burnham) said in October that Reform should take \"immediate and firm action against those who've been revealed to be making these abhorrent comments,\" the BBC reported. Labour chair Bridget Phillipson told the Guardian that Farage \"can't shrug these latest revelations off as being a few bad apples.\"\n\nConservative leader [Kemi Badenoch](https://567politics.com/politicians/kemi-badenoch), whose party once counted Feeney as a councillor before he defected in 2025, said: \"I don't want people like that in the Conservative Party. I'm glad they have gone.\" Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey called the footage \"chilling.\" A Green Party spokesman said the comments \"reflect party policy.\" The recordings of individuals do not by themselves establish that claim about Reform's platform.\n\nReform's leadership has argued that the investigation was selective. On the party's website, [Jenrick](https://567politics.com/politicians/robert-jenrick) is quoted telling ITV's Robert Peston that \"if you sent dozens of investigative reporters, spent a million pounds and a year in any workplace... you would find a few bad apples,\" and that \"there are no more bad apples in Reform than there are other parties,\" according to [a Reform UK post](https://reformparty.uk/news/robert-jenrick-peston-itv-unfair-targeting-reform-uk). Deputy leader Richard Tice made a similar point about recording \"hundreds of conversations.\" That comparative claim is untested. 567 Politics is not aware of a comparable undercover study of other parties, so the available evidence neither confirms nor refutes it.\n\n## The regulator's options\n\nThe EHRC has not set a deadline in public for Reform's reply. Its statement says it will assess the information and then \"take action where appropriate.\" In Labour's case, a formal investigation ended with an unlawful act notice and an action plan that the commission said was legally enforceable by the courts. The EHRC has given no indication of which path it expects to take with Reform.\n\nFor voters, the more immediate questions are political. Reform made large gains in the May local elections, and the documentary has prompted a debate about how it vets candidates. For readers following the wider contest, our [United Kingdom issues page](https://567politics.com/issues/united-kingdom) tracks how the major parties line up on immigration, integration and other priorities. Earlier on Monday, the government also published [its final rules on settlement for migrants](https://567politics.com/news/uk-earned-settlement-mahmood-ilr-ten-year-path-november-2026), a policy Farage says a Reform government would go further on by scrapping indefinite leave to remain.\n\n## About this report\n\nThis article draws on the EHRC's November 2 and October 15 statements, its 2020 Labour report and its guidance for parties. It also uses ITV News reporting on the documentary, coverage by the BBC, Guardian, Independent, Telegraph, LBC and Press Gazette, and Reform UK's own website. Quotations from the documentary are as published by ITV and the BBC. 567 Politics did not view the full broadcast and has not seen the EHRC's letter to Reform or the party's reply. Allegations against individuals and against ITV remain unproven unless stated. Our approach is described in our [methodology](https://567politics.com/methodology).","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"}]}