Zia Yusuf slams BBC bias in Nazi salute row | Politics | News
Zia Yusuf has lashed out at BBC bias after a Reform UK candidate was photographed appearing to strike a Nazi salute. He said the party has taken action after the โabhorrentโ incident and that of another candidate branding the former First Minister Humza Yousaf an โIslamist moronโ.
Reformโs Scottish leader, Malcolm Offord, has stood by his Holyrood candidates after past social media posts emerged. Linda Holt, the candidate for Fife North East, described former First Minister Humza Yousaf as a โgrandstanding Islamist moronโ and said he was โnot Britishโ although he was born in Scotland.
Meanwhile, Corey Edwards, who was a Reform UK candidate for the upcoming Senedd election in Wales, stood down, citing his mental health, after photos of him appearing to strike a Nazi salute emerged online.
Reform UKโs new home affairs spokesman was asked on the BBCโs Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg about Reformโs vetting of candidates after โone of them branded the former First Minister of Scotland, Humza Yousaf, an Islamist moron, another candidate made offensive comments aimed at the Jewish community, and another was photographed doing a Nazi saluteโ.
Put to him that Nigel Farage said last year that Reformโs vetting process would improve, Mr Yusuf said: โObviously, all of thatโs abhorrent and the partyโs taken action on that.
โReform has vetted over 8,000 candidates over the last couple of years.
โEven if our success rate is 99.9%, a handful will slip through.
โBut I want to make a very important point actually on vetting and how these things are covered, because yes, of course, itโs reasonable to hold Reform to account, but what consistently happens is the BBC pounces on every single Reform mishap, and gives it vastly disproportionate coverage in your news cycles, and completely ignores the far more voluminous misdemeanours and frankly, egregious things that people from other parties say.โ
He claimed antisemitic comments made by Green Party councillors had not been reported by the BBC.
The BBC has been approached to comment.
