Reform councillor faces backlash over posts mocking trans people and LGBTQ+ acronym
Tracy Clayton of Reform UK (X/TracySimTech)
A newly elected Reform UK councillor in Kirklees is facing mounting backlash over alleged social media posts that target LGBTQ+ people and Muslim people, including one post that appeared to add “pedosexual” to the LGBTQ+ acronym.
As reported by Yorkshire Live, Tracy Clayton, who won a seat representing Colne Valley West earlier this month, has been linked to an X account that allegedly shared memes targeting transgender women, AI-generated political imagery, and posts about Muslim communities.
One resurfaced image posted in March, just weeks before the local election, featured the slur-like addition of “pedosexual” to the LGBTQ+ acronym, echoing a long-running false trope used to associate queer people with child abuse.
The account, reportedly operating under the name “Tracy Clayton Reform UK,” also shared posts questioning climate change and reposted content critics described as racist and discriminatory. Clayton has so far declined to comment publicly, responding “no comment” when approached at a council meeting.
A post from the same account published on 11 May, after the backlash began, said: “All the people that have attacked me, your narrative is boring.”
Clayton is now the second Reform UK councillor elected in Colne Valley West to face scrutiny over alleged social media activity. Fellow newly-elected councillor Stefan Dransfield was recently criticised over a resurfaced 2020 Facebook post under his name showing an Asian man being punched with the caption “very satisfying.”
Kirklees Council noted that the posts attributed to Clayton appear to predate her election and therefore fall outside the council’s formal code of conduct for elected officials.
“Councillors are required to comply with the Council’s Code of Conduct when acting in their capacity as elected members. The unverified screenshots in question appear to be from posts made prior to the individual being elected as a councillor and before they were subject to the Code of Conduct,” a Kirklees Council spokesperson told Yorkshire Live in a 21 May statement.
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