Health Secretary Wes Streeting has strongly condemned Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin, accusing her of using “racist” language following her remarks about advertisements being “full of black people, full of Asian people.”
Pochin, the MP for Runcorn and Helsby, has since apologised for her statements, which were made during a TalkTV phone-in on Saturday. She admitted her comments were “phrased poorly” but insisted that many advertisements are “unrepresentative of British society.”
In an interview with Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday, Streeting suggested that Pochin’s apology was insincere, claiming it was issued only “because she’s been caught and called out.”
BBC News has reached out to Reform UK and Pochin for their response to the situation.
Justice Secretary David Lammy has called for Reform UK leader Nigel Farage to “sack” Pochin from the party, describing her remarks as “mean, nasty and racist.”
Lammy expressed his “disgust” at her comments, asserting that “our country is so much better than this.”
The Liberal Democrats have joined the call, urging Farage to suspend Pochin from the party.
The controversy arose after Pochin expressed agreement with a TalkTV caller who complained about the “demographics” of advertising.
Pochin affirmed that the viewer was “absolutely right,” stating, “it drives me mad when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people.”
She argued that “it doesn’t reflect our society” and that “your average white person, average white family” is no longer “represented anymore.”
Pochin attributed the situation to the influence of the “woke liberati” in the “arty-farty world.”
“It might be fine inside the M25, but it’s definitely not representative of the rest of the country,” she stated.
In a social media post on Saturday, Pochin acknowledged that her comments “were phrased poorly and I unreservedly apologise for any offence caused, which was not my intention.”
She clarified that she intended to convey that the advertising industry had gone “DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] mad” and was now “unrepresentative of British society as a whole.”
In her statement, Pochin referenced a Channel 4 study that indicated a surge in the proportion of advertisements featuring black people following the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, from 37% in 2020 to 51% in 2022.
“Representation should reflect the diversity of modern Britain, but it should also be proportionate and inclusive of everyone,” she maintained.
On Sunday, Reform UK’s head of policy Zia Yusuf stated that Pochin was “right to apologise” but asserted that she raised “a very valid point we must be able to talk about.”
Prior to Streeting’s interview, Yusuf told Sky News that Pochin was “a lovely person” and that her point had been “statistically borne out by a Channel 4 study.”
Streeting dismissed her apology, arguing that she was “only sorry because she was caught and called out and said the quiet bit out loud.”
When asked about Pochin’s comments, Streeting stated: “What she said was a disgrace, I think it was racist.”
“What we have seen is a return of 1970s and 1980s-style racism I thought we had left in the history books.
“The only way we are going to defeat this racism is to call it out and confront it for what it is.”
He accused Reform UK of failing to represent the entire country, stating: “They think our flag only belongs to some of us who look like me, not all of us who built this country and built its success.”
Streeting also criticised Farage’s silence on Pochin’s remarks, describing it as “deafening.”
Pochin had previously been criticised by Yusuf, who was party chairman at the time, for suggesting a ban on the burka during a speech in Parliament.
In a social media post on Sunday afternoon, Pochin responded to Streeting, stating, “I am sorry you feel that way” before criticising past statements made by him and other Labour politicians.
Asked about her comments, Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said he would not “call her racist” and said “there are legitimate concerns the public have about mass migration that need to be addressed”.
“It’s certainly not language that I would use and I don’t think politicians should speak in those terms,” he added.
The Liberal Democrats have called on Farage to withdraw the whip from Pochin over her comments and called criticised Philp for “refusing to call out blatant racism for what it is”.
Party spokesman Max Wilkinson said: “Nigel Farage keeps insisting that racism has no place in his party.
“Now is his chance to prove it – he must withdraw the whip or concede that Reform tolerates blatant racism.”
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