New Ukip councillor suspended over claims of racism

Dave Small, who was elected to Redditch Borough Council in last Thursday’s elections, will now be investigated amid claims he posted racist and homophobic remarks on social media.

Mr Small won his seat in the Church Hill ward, topping the poll with 665 votes.

A Ukip spokesman said: “Dave Small has been suspended with immediate effect, pending a disciplinary hearing to determine the final outcome.”

It was reported at the weekend that in February 2013, Mr Small referred to gay people as “perverts” and expressed opposition to “poofs and dykes” being allowed to marry.

And, in a post littered with spelling mistakes, he predicted that “thousends mor scroungers [sic]” would soon arrive in the UK from Mali as a result of a range of coalition government policies.

Mr Small also complained in a November 2012 post that he was not allowed to use the term “Paki”.

In June that year, he wrote: “I visiting the city of Birmingham recently and felt like a foreigner in the city of my birth, all around me I could hear the sound of jabbering in an alien voice ... we also have the Pakistani’ and the Somali’s.

“Tell me Mr Cameron Why? [sic] the men wear their Pyjamas.”

Mr Small is the latest Ukip politician to court controversy after racially charged remarks. Party leader Nigel Farage faced criticism after appearing to suggest in a radio interview that he would not want to live next door to Romanians.

Ukip’s next ballot box challenge will be the Newark by-election, where the party will be “busting a gut” to overturn a 16,000-plus Tory majority.

The June 5 ballot, triggered by the resignation of disgraced MP Patrick Mercer, will see Ukip hope to maintain the momentum generated by its performance in the European contests.