Warning: This report contains racist and offensive language.

A Reform UK councillor who was filmed calling Asian homeowners "parasites" has been suspended from his job with the prison service.

Alan Feeney is the deputy mayor of Solihull, and in July his register of interests with the council recorded he was employed as a custodial manager at HMP Birmingham.

The Ministry of Justice called the comments, filmed in an ITV News investigation, "despicable", and said they were "entirely at odds" with the standards expected of prison staff.

The BBC has approached Feeney for a response, while in a statement, Reform said: "Where members, activists and councillors have clearly behaved inappropriately, investigations have commenced."

He was filmed making the remarks in Undercover: A Year in Reform, an ITV News investigation into the party's councillors and candidates in the run-up to elections earlier this year.

Feeney, who defected from the Conservative Party to Reform last year, was duly elected to the Shard End ward on Birmingham City Council in May, and he is also a councillor for Solihull.

In the documentary, he described the area as "infested" with Asian families and called them "absolute parasites".

He was also recorded saying no more than 1% of the UK population should be non-white.

The MoJ said the comments would be investigated and action taken in line with its policy. It said the investigation would be progressed as quickly as possible, adding that prison staff were expected to meet high standards of professional and personal conduct.

"Any form of racism or misogyny are treated extremely seriously and rooted out," it said.

HM Prison and Probation Service describes custodial managers as "the most senior uniformed officers in a prison".

Undercover reporters also filmed with two other Reform candidates in Solihull, Jamie Campbell and Chris Whelan.

In a statement, responding to the issues raised in the ITV documentary, Solihull Borough Council said: "There is no place for this disgusting racist discriminatory and misogynistic language in public life, and these comments do not represent the values of Solihull Council or its residents.

"We have received a resignation from Mr Whelan and will be investigating the complaints made against councillors Feeney and Campbell."

A spokesperson for Reform Solihull said they strongly condemned "the misogynistic and offensive comments made" by councillors Feeney and Whelan, who they said were both no longer Reform councillors.

"Councillor Feeney was briefly with Reform, but spent the majority of his time as a Conservative councillor, first elected for the Tories over a decade ago," they added.

"Neither councillor reflects the views of the group."

The party added councillor Campbell's comment "was a joke in poor taste, but with no malicious intent".

"It's something that he deeply regrets, and the party will not be taking any further action," it added.

ITV has reported that on Monday evening Feeney had "mutually agreed" to resign from Reform, citing "personal reasons" and would be continuing as an independent councillor.

The BBC has approached Wheelan and Campbell, as well as Feeney, for a response.

ITV News said its reporters were undercover with Reform candidates and councillors across England and Wales in the run-up to the elections in May, as well as four by-election campaigns this year and last.

Feeney, who was campaigning to retain his seat on the council after defecting from the Conservative Party in 2025, was filmed telling undercover reporters the area had been "infested" with Asian families, calling them "absolute parasites".

Reform said the people filmed by ITV were all under investigation and had already either resigned or been suspended.

A spokesperson added that the party had improved its procedures, but some individuals who did not share their values would occasionally make it through vetting.

In response to the ITV News investigation, Birmingham Against Racism and Hate Crime said: "This is not about a few bad apples. This is a rotten orchard."

"I'm disgusted and I'm angered that this has happened and I'm really worried because of the nature of things, the state of our community at the moment," he told BBC Radio WM.

"This does not represent Solihull, this doesn't represent the West Midlands and I think Reform in Solihull have got some serious problems."

Liam Byrne, Labour MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North, said: "The extremist, racist views of these local councillors exposed by ITV News quite simply can have absolutely no place in our public life. The councillors should resign immediately.

"The behaviour revealed in this investigation is utterly incompatible with either common decency or the standards we expect of those elected to serve."

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