Nigel Farage has said he is “very unhappy” with Sarah Pochin’s “ugly” comment as a grooming gangs survivor slammed the media for double standards.

Ms Pochin said: “It drives me mad when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people”.

She later apologised and said her comments were “phrased poorly” but maintained that many adverts were “unrepresentative of British society”.

Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, Mr Farage said: “I am unhappy with what she has done.”

He added that the comments came in the context of “DEI madness”.

Mr Farage added: “I understand the basic point, but the way she put it, the way she worded it, was wrong and was ugly, and if I thought that the intention behind it was racist, I would have taken a lot more action than I have to date.”

Grooming gangs survivor Ellie Reynolds, who joined the Reform leader at the press conference, pointed out a double standard from the media in response to a question about Ms Pochin.

She said: “I find it quite overwhelming that every single one of these media [outlets] has said something about a comment that was made by Sarah, which is understandable – absolutely fine.

Ms Reynolds added: “Yet it has taken the media decades to recognise grooming gangs that are coming over and raping our children because they are white. That is also racially motivated and it is racist.”

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer branded the comments as “shocking racism”.

Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have called for Mr Farage to suspend her from Reform.

Sir Keir told the BBC: “Nigel Farage has 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.”

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Speaking about the grooming gang enquiry at Mr Farage’s press conference, Ms Reynolds said: “The inquiry that was set up was a mess from the start.

“When I joined the panel we knew from the get-go that it was messy. It was a very controlling atmosphere there it was very gaslighting, very manipulative.

“We all went on to do the right thing and that was to seek justice, find the truth, to not be silenced anymore and to be able to help our future. The way that we were spoken to was very degrading; it was very controlling.”

“We almost felt uncomfortable vocalising the ethnicity of these men. Pretty much when we were in that inquiry we were stripped of our voices.”

She added that the inquiry was “rigged from the start” and made reference to former police officer Jim Gamble and former social worker Annie Hudson, who were previously announced as candidates to chair the inquiry.

Ms Reynolds concluded her speech by saying the inquiry was “corrupt”.

Mr Farage added that it is time for Parliament to “step up” and intervene in the grooming gang scandal, suggesting both the House of Lords and the House of Commons could be involved in a “commission”.

The Reform UK leader said he would be speaking to Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle and would write to the Home Affairs Select Committee about Parliament using its “extraordinary powers” to investigate the grooming gangs scandal.

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