A REFORM UK MP has come under fire from across the political spectrum after saying television adverts were “full of black people, full of Asian people”.
Sarah Pochin, who represents Runcorn and Helsby, made the remarks during a TalkTV phone-in last Saturday (25). Responding to a caller who complained about the “demographics” of adverts, Pochin said: “You’re absolutely right. It drives me mad when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people.”
She added that the adverts did not reflect society and claimed “your average white person, average white family” was “not represented anymore”.
Pochin blamed what she called the “woke liberati” in the “arty-farty world”, saying: “It might be fine inside the M25, but it’s definitely not representative of the rest of the country.”
Her remarks sparked outrage. Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer described them as “shocking racism” and said Reform leader Nigel Farage had “questions to answer”.
“Yes, she was [racist],” Starmer told the BBC. “It’s shocking racism and it’s the sort of thing that’ll tear our country apart. It tells you everything about Reform.”
Health secretary Wes Streeting said Pochin was “only sorry because she was caught and called out”. Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, he added: “What we’ve seen is a return of 1970s and 1980s-style racism I thought we’d left in the history books.”
Justice secretary David Lammy said he was “disgusted” by the comments and called on Farage to “sack her” for her “mean, nasty and racist” remarks. Pochin later apologised on social media, saying her words “were phrased poorly” and that she “unreservedly apologised for any offence caused”. She insisted her intention was not racist, but that she was criticising what she described as “diversity, equity and inclusion madness” in advertising.
“Representation should reflect the diversity of modern Britain,” she wrote, “but it should also be proportionate and inclusive of everyone.” She cited a Channel 4 study showing that the share of adverts featuring black people rose from 37 per cent in 2020 to 51 per cent in 2022 following the Black Lives Matter movement. However, her apology did little to ease the backlash.
Reform leader Nigel Farage described her remarks as “ugly” and “wrong” but denied that her intention was racist. At a press conference on Monday (27), he said: “I’m unhappy with what she’s done. The way she put it was wrong and ugly. If I thought her intention was racist, I would have taken much stronger action.”
He argued her comments should be seen in the wider context of “diversity, equity and inclusion madness”.
Reform UK’s head of policy, Zia Yusuf, defended Pochin, describing her as “a close friend and great MP”. He said she was “right to apologise” but was raising “a valid point we must be able to talk about”.
“The caller she was responding to was right to be upset about the massive under-representation of some groups and overrepresentation of others in television advertising,” Yusuf told Sky News. “We have to be able to talk about these things.”
Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp initially said Pochin’s words were “not language I would use” but later told LBC: “The way she made her comments was racist. She should absolutely not have said that. It was completely wrong.”
Labour chairwoman Anna Turley also wrote to Farage urging him to withdraw the party whip. “Saying that seeing black and Asian people in TV adverts ‘drives me mad’ is racist,” she said. “You have the power to act – you should do it today.”
In the House of Commons on Monday (27), Labour MP Dawn Butler said that she was “completely offended” by Pochin’s comment.
“You can’t be black and brown and be British, so I’m completely offended by that comment. It is a racist comment, and can you imagine the constituents of that MP going to see her knowing that she’s a racist?,” she said.
Deputy speaker Judith Cummins intervened multiple times to demand that Butler withdraw the specific statement that she was calling a fellow MP a “racist.”
Later, the Labour MP for Brent East formally withdrew the specific statement calling the other MP a “racist,” though she did so by saying she would “withdraw the fact that I am referring to the Member of Parliament as a racist because of her racist comments.”
The Liberal Democrats joined the criticism, calling for Pochin’s suspension and for parliament to issue a formal censure. Party spokesman Max Wilkinson said: “Nigel Farage keeps saying racism has no place in his party. Now is his chance to prove it – he must withdraw the whip or admit that Reform tolerates blatant racism.”
This is not the first time Pochin has faced controversy. Earlier this year, she asked the prime minister whether he would follow some European countries in banning the burka — remarks that drew criticism from within her own party, including from Yusuf, who was then Reform’s chairman.
