Councillor facing ban over asylum seeker comments

REPORT CONCLUDES HE BROKE CODE OF CONDUCT BUT HE SAYS INQUIRY AMOUNTS TO A ‘GAG ORDER’

- By OLIVER PRIDMORE

A REFORM UK councillor could be punished by the Nottinghamshire authority he sits on for comments he made about accommodation for asylum seekers in his area.

The comments surrounded asylum seekers who had previously been housed on the Bibby Stockholm barge. They have led to a Nottinghamshire council bringing in an external legal firm to produce a report of nearly 100 pages in length.

The report finds that Councillor Fraser McFarland, previously a Conservative councillor who now leads the Reform group on Bassetlaw District Council, breached the authority’s code of conduct on two counts.

A council meeting on Thursday will use that report to decide whether it also believes Councillor McFarland has broken the code of conduct and if so, what action to take. The standards subcommittee, featuring one Conservative and two Labour councillors, has the power to issue sanctions against Councillor McFarland. These include being banned from council offices and buildings, apart from to attend a council meeting. He could also have his council computer, email and internet access withdrawn.

But Councillor McFarland says the investigation amounts to a “political gag order” though the council says the independent investigation it has commissioned provides an “impartial view’ on the matter.

The row centres on asylum seekers who were previously housed on the Bibby Stockholm barge, moored off Portland in Dorset. Those on board were moved off in late 2024 as the contract for the barge expired in January 2025.

Reports suggested some of those moved off the barge were being housed in Worksop.