Reform MS says caseworker caught using racist slur in ITV probe no longer works for him

Emily Price 

A prominent Reform Member of the Senedd has confirmed that a caseworker filmed using highly offensive racist language in an ITV undercover investigation no longer works for him.

Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr MS Jason O’Connell had handed Martin Roberts the taxpayer-funded role in June.

A screenshot of the Senedd’s internal system seen by Nation.Cymru on Thursday morning (October 15) appeared to show Roberts was still employed as a caseworker in O’Connell’s team.

When Nation.Cymru asked whether he intended to sack Roberts in light of the footage, a spokesperson for O’Connell said: “Mr Roberts does not work for Jason or any other Reform MS and hasn’t for a long period of time.”

Nation.Cymru noted that on August 18, Reform’s Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr branch Facebook page shared a photo of O’Connell posting party leaflets with Roberts.

We pointed out to the spokesperson that the Senedd’s internal system still listed Roberts as a member of O’Connell’s team.

We then asked when exactly Roberts had left the role but received no response.

We also contacted the Senedd Commission to ask whether there had been a delay in updating its internal records.

A spokesperson confirmed that Roberts no longer worked as a caseworker but was unable to say when his employment ended.

ITV News revealed yesterday (October 14) that Roberts will feature in a documentary due to air on Sunday, which shows Reform UK councillors and candidates making racist, misogynistic and violent remarks on camera.

An undercover reporter joined Roberts canvassing in Caerphilly ahead of a key by-election in October 2025.

Hidden cameras showed the reporter telling Roberts he was from Leicester, which he said had changed.

“Lots of d**kies, is it?” Roberts replied. “Say what you want around me, man.”

When the discussion turned to the Tory Party’s prospects, the undercover reporter said he didn’t believe they would be successful with Kemi Badenoch as its leader.

“What, because she’s black?” asked Roberts, laughing.

He then added: “I used to hear all these comments as I was growing up, you know, like ah look at that f***ing four-door over there.

“I’m like, what’s a four-door? Four-door saloon, c*on.”

Roberts told ITV News he was trying to be “humorous and informal” but said he accepted and regretted using language he described as “inappropriate”.

He denied being a bigot or an extremist.

Roberts was selected as Reform UK’s fourth-placed candidate in Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr at the May 7 Senedd election, but failed to secure a seat in Wales’ Parliament.

He was later employed by O’Connell as a caseworker.

Welsh Labour called for Reform’s leader in the Senedd Helen Jenner to explain how Roberts was selected as a candidate and given a taxpayer-funded Senedd role.

Three Reform councillors in England have already stood down from the party following ITV’s release of footage from its documentary.

Reform UK says it is investigating the initial revelations from the undercover investigation.

The year-long probe showed Alan Feeney, a Reform councillor and deputy mayor of Solihull, branding Asian homeowners “parasites” and saying “no more than 1% of [the] British population can be non-white”.

Feeney has since announced that he has left Reform “for personal reasons”.

English Reform councillors Jamie Campbell and Chris Whelan were also recorded making deeply misogynistic and racist comments on camera.

Councillor Whelan has also resigned from Reform UK for personal and health reasons.

The ITV documentary also saw an undercover reporter meet with Dean Miller, a Reform councillor in Bromley, who was in Makerfield campaigning for the party.

In one recording, Councillor Miller said: “We’ve been ethnically cleansed out of London.”

He added: “Because you never used to get any blacks over in Bromley, and now Bromley [has] massive Nigerian communities there>”

In a separate conversation, Councillor Miller claimed local children had been committing vandalism in Bromley.

He said: “Like all the ethnic f***ing kids, they’re not white, they’re all f***ing black, and they’re like f***ing animals.

“It’s horrible to say it. I’m not racist.”

The Bromley councillor went on to say that King Charles is secretly a Muslim and called for the “c**t’s” head to be cut off.

Councillor Miller told ITV he was heavily medicated at the time and has now resigned from Reform UK.

A Reform UK spokesman said the party had “improved and prioritised its vetting procedures, but from time to time a handful of individuals who do not share our values” have made it through their checks.

The spokesman added: “This is the same for all organisations. However good the vetting, one cannot vet a future comment especially in circumstances where an individual is entrapped in a discussion with an undercover reporter.

“There is no room for racism in Reform UK.”

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