Exclusive: No suspension for Reform councillor who shared post calling for female MP to be shot
Calls for Nigel Farage’s party to act after Lancashire councillor Simon Evans shares Facebook meme targeting grooming survivor Natalie Fleet.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is coming under pressure to suspend a leading councillor who shared a post on social media calling for Labour MP Natalie Fleet, a grooming survivor, to be shot.
Cllr Simon Evans, deputy leader of Reform at Lancashire County Council, re-shared a Facebook post about Labour MP Natalie Fleet with accompanying text that read: “YOU DOZY COW… YOU SHOULD BE SHOT.” The image itself included the caption: “i voted against the grooming gang enquiry.”
Despite the explicit call for violence against a sitting MP, The Lancashire Lead has revealed Reform will take no formal action against Evans after the party concluded the post was an “honest mistake”.
But anti-extremist group Hope not HATE has slammed the party’s stance as “repugnant”.
Director of campaigns Georgie Laming told The Lead: “Simply calling this an “honest mistake” is repugnant – Cllr Evans should have reported the post to the police. Deathly violence against politicians in this country is unfortunately a very real threat, as is evident from the horrific murders of Jo Cox and David Amess.
“If councillors are not paying enough attention that they can ‘mistakenly’ repost a death threat to a sitting MP, can they be trusted to run a council? Reform UK and Farage need to take this seriously and immediately suspend the councillor.”
Alex Davies-Jones MP, Labour’s Minister for Victims and Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls, told The Lancashire Lead: “This grotesque and misogynistic call to violence has absolutely no room in society.
“Yet Nigel Farage continues to insult the public by tolerating these extremist views in Reform. It’s completely unacceptable.
“Farage should grow a backbone and immediately suspend his councillor for this vile and dangerous threat.”
Reporting by The Lead’s local titles has highlighted how female councillors across the country face sustained online bullying, sexist slurs, and threats, with many warning political discourse is becoming increasingly hostile and unsafe for women. In one recent case covered by The Valleys Lead, councillors described abuse that had “worsened”, including explicit threats and organised harassment campaigns.
Natalie Fleet said in a post on X: “We should be able to fight for our areas w/o death threats as standard.”
A Reform UK spokesperson said the party considered the post to be an “honest mistake” and that Evans was “mortified”.
In a post on Facebook, Cllr Evans said: “Yesterday, I shared a post featuring Natalie Fleet MP highlighting how she voted on the grooming gang inquiry. As many of you know, this is an issue close to my heart and something I have been campaigning on tirelessly even before I was elected.
“Unfortunately, what I did not notice was the accompanying text of the Facebook post that was created by an unknown user. As soon as this was pointed out, I immediately deleted the post. I would never intentionally call for or wish violence upon anyone, regardless of their political beliefs. This sort of rhetoric has absolutely no place in our politics.
“I would like to sincerely apologise to Ms Fleet and anyone else for the offence caused. This was completely unintentional and was a genuine mistake that we can all make from time to time, especially on social media.”
A climate of intimidation
The post likely makes reference to Labour voting down a Conservative-led amendment that called for a full national inquiry into grooming gangs in January 2025.
Fleet was one of 364 MPs who voted to reject the amendment.
At the time, Sir Keir Starmer accused Tory leader Kemi Badenoch for what he perceived to be a sudden interest in the subject given she did not take the same action when in government.
Fleet has been a high-profile voice on grooming and Violence Against Women and Girls. She has also spoken of her experiences where she became pregnant after being groomed and raped as a teenager.
This is not happening in a vacuum. Let’s not forget we are approaching the ten-year anniversary of the murder of Jo Cox – a female Labour MP shot dead in the street while doing her job. In the years since, multiple plots against elected representatives have been uncovered – including a far-right extremist’s plan to murder then-Lancashire MP Rosie Cooper.
At The Lead we will continue to investigate the treatment of women in politics – from Westminster to local councils. Abuse, threats and extremist rhetoric are continuing to define the safety of women in public life, and the way politicians speak and what they share sets the tone for the debate.■
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