REFORM UK’s parliamentary candidate for Yeovil has been accused of liking tweets that could be considered racist, Islamophobic and climate denying.

Last weekend, Mark Burdge was announced as the party’s fifth Somerset candidate, but his campaign could be over before an election date has even been announced.

The revelations come after Reform already dropped at least 10 candidates over claims of controversial and racist views.

Here in Somerset, a number of claims in posts ‘liked’ by Mr Burdge, and comments he made to your Leveller, are provably untrue.

See the bottom of this page for fact-checked responses.

However, when challenged, Mr Burdge doubled down on the allegedly-Islamophobic remarks, as well as making more unfounded claims, including saying many Muslims openly claim the abuse of young children is legitimate under Islamic law.

One tweet, liked by Mr Burdge, said: “Multi-culturalism has been a disaster for this country.”

Another, featuring a picture of Enoch Powell, read: “I remember this man and his comments very well and I was and remain 100% behind him.”

“The Great Replacement is real, and anyone who tells you otherwise is a liar,” said another, endorsing a widely-slammed conspiracy theory that argues white Americans and Europeans are being actively ‘replaced’ by non-white immigrants.

The theory has reportedly been cited as a motivating factor in multiple shootings.

Meanwhile, in response to Humza Yousaf’s resignation as first minister of Scotland, one tweet liked by Mr Burdge said: “Now let’s get rid of the other one in London.”

‘Other’ what? That is unclear.

Another post featuring Sadiq Khan was also ‘liked’ by Mr Burdge, and included an unsubstantiated and false claim that “85% of murders last year in London were carried out by immigrants and foreigners with the majority being Muslim”.

This is completely unsubstantiated and has no basis in fact.

A further liked tweet which again, is completely unsubstantiated, said: “If you’re going to be stranger raped in this country, it’s going to be by an ‘Asylum Seeker’.”

Mr Burdge also liked tweets that denied the threat of climate change.

One said: “Global warming is part of natural cycle and there’s nothing we can actually do to stop these cycles.”

This view has been widely debunked, with space agency Nasa saying 97% of “actively publishing climate scientists … agree that humans are causing global warming and climate change”.

READ MORE: Every Somerset Reform UK candidate announced so far 

READ MORE: Somerset councillor quits Tories for Reform in general election bid

When your Leveller put the tweets to Mr Burdge, he said: “Immigrants, not all of course, are also responsible for a growing number of truly horrible crimes, and they should be called out, especially when they have arrived here illegally.

“It is not racist to call this out and the Reform Party is committed to stopping the boats arriving.

“You would have to live under a rock not to have noticed the level of grooming and rape of young children, which many Muslims openly claim is legitimate under Islamic law.

“I don’t think this type of behaviour should be tolerated in England, do you?

“I would challenge anyone of any religion who believes such things are acceptable.”

“0.4% of the world’s atmosphere is made up of CO2 and human activity accounts for less than 10% of that.”

“The Net zero policy being pursued by the mainstream parties is not only expensive and damaging our competitiveness, it is also totally unnecessary.

“I am fully aligned with (Reform’s) content and objectives.”

Again, the fresh claims made in Mr Burdge’s response are also widely disputed and dismissed as untrue by experts.

When challenged on specific liked tweets, such as those calling multiculturalism a “disaster” and being “100% behind” Enoch Powell, Mr Burdge clarified his position.

He said: “If I like or repost something on X, it doesn’t mean I agree with every detail of the post.

“For example, the only view I share with Enoch Powell is that we should be careful about the amount of immigration that we allow.

“I am all in favour of the diverse multicultural society that we have.

“We have been a generous nation to immigrants and refugees.

“It is the current uncontrolled wave of economic migrants that I have a problem with.

“To be clear; my words are the only view that I fully endorse.”

Reform UK has been approached for comment.

Fact-checking the claims

Claim: “0.4% of the world’s atmosphere is made up of CO2 and human activity accounts for less than 10% of that.”

This is incorrect. 0.04% of the world’s atmosphere is made up of CO2, but this is too much.

As explained by Professor Yochanan Kushnir, 99% of the atmosphere consists of oxygen and nitrogen which do not absorb the infrared radiation Earth admits, but CO2 does.

The heat is then radiated back down to Earth, trapping it, and creating the greenhouse effect.

Read the full explanation here: https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2019/07/30/co2-drives-global-warming/

Claim: “…grooming and rape of young children, which many Muslims openly claim is legitimate under Islamic law.”

As the Muslim journalist Myriam François explained, this claim comes from the alleged marriage between Muhammed, then in his 50s, and six-year-old Aisha.

But the Koran states marriage must be between two adults, and adulthood at the time is defined as the onset of puberty.

Aisha is estimated to have been between nine and 19.

Five centuries later, in the year 1200, King John of England, a Christian, was 33 when he married the Isabella of Angoulême, estimated to be between 12 and 14.

So the claim Muhammed married a six-year-old is almost certainly untrue.

She was likely younger than would be acceptable in modern standards, but this was a practise of Christians at the time.

Read the full explanation here: https://thewire.in/religion/prophet-mohammed-aisha

Claim: “85% of murders last year in London were carried out by immigrants and foreigners with the majority being Muslim.”

In a public information request sent to the Metropolitan Police, PolitiFact found the service does not record the religion or immigration status of criminal suspects.

Therefore, there is no way such a claim can be made.

Real the full explanation here: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/feb/08/viral-image/theres-no-evidence-muslim-immigrants-are-responsib/