Reform UK has withdrawn support from three of its candidates, the party has confirmed.

Nigel Farage‘s party is no longer backing Edward Oakenfull, Robert Lomas, and Leslie Lilley – who were all previously candidates for Reform, over offensive comments they had made. 

Mr Oakenfull, who had been standing in Derbyshire Dales, penned social media posts about the IQ of sub-Saharan Africans – which he told the BBC were ‘taken out of context’.

Meanwhile, Mr Lomas allegedly said black people should ‘get off [their] lazy arses’ and stop acting ‘like savages’.

Nigel Farage ‘s party is no longer backing Edward Oakenfull, Robert Lomas, and Leslie Lilley – who were all previously candidates for Reform

Leslie Lilley, who is running for the Reform party in Southend East and Rochford, said he would ‘slaughter’ migrants arriving on small boats and have their families ‘taken out’

Ms Lilley, who is running for the party in Southend East and Rochford, is accused of describing people arriving on small boats as ‘scum’.

In a post in June 2020 he commented on the arrival of a small boat in Dover, saying: ‘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.’

Within weeks he posted again, railing against ‘more scum’ entering the UK.

‘I hope your family get robbed, beaten or attacked’, he added, according to The Times. 

The candidates will remain on the ballot paper, but are no longer endorsed by Reform UK.

It comes as Sky News identified two additional Reform UK parliamentary candidates who shared material deemed ‘vile’ and in breach of the internationally-recognised definition of antisemitism.