ANOTHER woke councillor defects to Reform UK from the Labour Party

27 March 2026

Hartlepool councillor Aaron Roy has defected to Reform UK from the Labour party. Roy migrated to the UK only a decade ago from Kerala, India and remains an Indian citizen. He's written a self-aggrandizing profile of his own life achievements. Laden with woke buzzwords, it reads like the LinkedIn post of a DEI coordinator. He writes that he is "fuelled by a deep belief in equity". He complains of seeing "gaps in representation — especially among ethnic minorities". Of his own election, he said:

"In 2024 I became Hartlepool’s first-ever Non-White BAME councillor. That election wasn’t just personal—it was a signal of progress and possibility for the wider community."

He founded a BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) football club and a Lottery-funded Kabaddi team (Kabaddi is a sport popular in South Asia). People start local sports teams all the time, but Roy sees this as a pretty big deal:

"I don’t just advocate for representation; I build the structures and platforms that make it sustainable and transformative... What I bring to Hartlepool and the Northeast is more than a new sport—it’s a new game plan: one where diversity is celebrated."

On his own website, his "focus areas" list "Equality & Inclusion". He is the BAME Officer for Hartlepool Borough and is "committed to promoting diversity".

Meanwhile, right-wing candidates continue to resign from the party due to a lack of party support.