LONDON: A candidate standing for the right-wing political party Reform UK in the British general election next month said he would “slaughter” migrants who arrive in the country on small boats and “have their family taken out,” The Times newspaper reported on Wednesday.
It said Leslie Lilley, who is standing in the constituency of Southend East and Rochford, made the threats four years ago on the Facebook account he is now using to run his election campaign. In reaction to reports of a small boat arriving in Dover in June 2020 he said: “I hope I’m near one of these scumbags one day I won’t run away I’ll slaughter them then have their family taken out.”
During the same month, the 70-year-old also complained about “more scum entering the UK” and said: “I hope your family get robbed, beaten or attacked.”
Some predictions suggest that Lilley could win about 20 percent of the vote in the constituency of Southend East and Rochford, which is currently held by the Conservative Party but is viewed as a key target for Labour in the election on July 4.
Reform UK, formerly known as the Brexit Party, is a right-wing, populist political party founded in 2018 and led by Nigel Farage, former leader of the UK Independence Party.
