Sir Keir Starmer today accused Reform UK’s Sarah Pochin of ‘shocking racism’ after she moaned about TV adverts ‘full of black people, full of Asian people’.
The Prime Minister said there were ‘questions’ for Reform leader Nigel Farage following Ms Pochin’s outburst.
It came as Labour chairwoman Anna Turley wrote to Mr Farage to demand he ‘urgently clarify’ whether he endorses the remarks by one of his MPs.
Ms Pochin, the Runcorn and Helsby MP, apologised for any offence cause by her ‘poorly phrased’ comments to a TalkTV phone-in show on Saturday.
But she insisted that many TV adverts are ‘unrepresentative of British society’.
Asked if Ms Pochin was racist to say what she did, Sir Keir told BBC North West Tonight: ‘Yes, she was.
‘It’s shocking racism and it’s the sort of thing that will tear our country apart, and it tells you everything about Reform.
‘Nigel Farage has got some questions to answer, because either he doesn’t consider it racist, which in my view is shocking in itself, or he does think it’s racist and he’s shown absolutely no leadership.
‘I’m the Prime Minister of the whole of our country, our reasonable, tolerant, diverse country, and I want to serve the whole country. He can’t even call out racism.’
Asked whether Ms Pochin should have the Reform whip removed by Mr Farage, Sir Keir said: ‘He needs to take action, it’s not a question of just the whip, this is shocking racism, it has to be dealt with and it should be rooted out of his party.
‘And the question for Nigel Farage is, why has he shown absolutely no leadership on this?’
It came after Health Secretary Wes Streeting on Sunday also accused Ms Pochin of racism, as he condemned her comments as ‘a disgrace’.
Ms Pochin was responding to a viewer on TalkTV who complained about the demographics of advertising.
The Reform MP said the viewer was ‘absolutely right’ and ‘it drives me mad when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people’.
She said: ‘It doesn’t reflect our society and I feel that your average white person, average white family is… not represented anymore.’
Ms Pochin blamed the situation on 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 said.
In a later statement, she said she was trying to say the advertising industry had gone ‘DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) mad’.
She said: ‘My comments were phrased poorly and I apologise for any offence caused, which was not my intention.
‘The point I was trying to make is that the British advertising agency world have gone DEI mad and many adverts are now unrepresentative of British society as a whole.
‘I will endeavour to ensure my language is more accurate going forward.’
Labour on Monday wrote to Mr Farage to demand he ‘urgently clarify’ whether he endorses Ms Pochin’s remarks and to call on him to remove the Reform whip from her.
Ms Turley wrote: ‘At the time of writing you have made no public comment about Sarah Pochin’s remarks, which is uncharacteristically reticent of you.
‘I am writing to you to urgently clarity Reform’s official position.’
The Labour chairwoman asked: ‘Do you endorse Sarah Pochin’s comments? And can you confirm if her views on race are welcome in Reform UK?
‘Saying that seeing black and Asian people in TV adverts ‘drives me mad’ is racist.
‘You have the power to withdraw the Reform UK whip from Sarah Pochin. You should do it today.’
The Liberal Democrats have sought a censure motion in Parliament to formally rebuke Ms Pochin’s words, urging ‘decent MPs from across party lines’ to unite in condemning ‘this disgraceful behaviour’.
‘If racism has no place in his party, as he continues to protest, then Nigel Farage should prove it by withdrawing the whip immediately,’ the party’s home affairs spokesman Max Wilkinson said.
‘Failure to do this will show total contempt for the vast majority of decent British people.’
Speaking to LBC, Tory shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the way Ms Pochin had made her comments was ‘racist’, and ‘it’s right she apologised’.
The Conservative MP for Croydon South said: ‘She should absolutely not have said that. It was completely wrong.
‘She has apologised. I think the way she put it was racist, she shouldn’t have said it and it’s right she’s apologised.’
Zia Yusuf, the head of policy for Reform UK, has said it was right Ms Pochin had apologised.
But he told Sky News that people must be able to ‘talk about’ representation on television advertising.
