07 May 2026
Reform UK’s candidate for the Hill End ward in today’s St Albans district council elections has been expelled by the party for sharing social media posts which included grossly offensive racist slurs.
Casper Thomas has been outed by Byline News and campaign group HOPE Not Hate for his comments about women, Jewish people, black people, Muslims and Indians, and campaigning on behalf of the far right group Restore Britain.
His name remains on the ballot paper as the Reform UK candidate for Hill End although the party says he has already been expelled.
We have chosen not to repeat any of his comments and provide a platform for his hateful opinions.
An SADC spokesperson said: “This is a political party matter. When a validly nominated political party candidate has their party’s support withdrawn after an election nomination deadline has passed, there is no legal mechanism to remove their name from the ballot paper.
“The Returning Officer has no legal powers to amend the ballot paper or stop the election. Everything must continue as planned in line with electoral law.
“If a candidate in these circumstances has opted to include a political party description and emblem on the ballot paper, by law this must also still be included.
“Caspar Hugo Issac Thomas was validly nominated as an authorised candidate of Reform UK, so remains listed as that on the ballot paper.
“No political information can be made available in polling stations. If voters ask, polling station staff may make a factual statement along the lines of: ‘Candidate X was validly nominated as the authorised candidate for Y party, so is included as that on the ballot paper’.
“If the candidate is elected, the result would stand. They would take office in the usual way and could either serve as an independent district councillor, join a political party, or resign their seat.
“Any further queries should be directed to the relevant local/national political party.”
