Reform UK MP says seeing adverts 'full of Black people' drives her 'mad'
Sarah Pochin was responding to a question about whether her party will do anything about the 'representation of demographics in TV adverts', and claimed white people were 'demonised'
Nigel Farage has been urged to condemn one of his own MPs after she claimed it drove her “mad seeing adverts full of Black and Asian people”.
Sarah Pochin was appearing on TalkTV when she was asked to respond to a question from a caller named Stuart about whether her party will do anything about the “representation of demographics in TV adverts”.
After the caller claimed the demographics of adverts represented a “demonisation of white people”, the Runcorn and Helsby MP agreed.
Responding, the Reform UK MP said: “I think Stuart is absolutely right, it drives me mad when I see adverts full of Black people, full of Asian people, full of people that are basically anything other than white.”
Pushed on this by the host Peter Cardwell, Ms Pochin doubled down, and insisted “woke” had taken over television.
She said: “It doesn’t reflect our society and I feel that your average white person, average white family is not represented anymore in TV advertising.
"We are talking about adverts, and how many times do you look at an advert and think ‘there’s not a single white person on it, and actually it is, it’s something that has happened, I believe because of the woke liberati that goes on inside this sort of arty farty world, and it when it comes to northern towns like Runcorn that I represent, it is just not representative of the rest of the country.
“It might be fine inside the M25 but it’s definitely not representative of the rest of the country.”
Her comments were condemned by Anna Turley, Chair of the Labour Party, who demanded Mr Farage clarify whether he approved of the comments.
The Redcar MP said: 'It’s astonishing that a senior Reform MP is spending her time counting the numbers of people with a different skin colour to her on TV adverts.
“Defining British people by the colour of their skin is completely unacceptable and shows once again that Reform are more interested in dividing our country than uniting it.
“Nigel Farage needs to condemn this now, and urgently clarify whether Sarah Pochin’s views on race are welcome in his party."
Ms Pochin has now claimed she misspoke, saying 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.”