The presiding officer of the Welsh Parliament has banned Reform UK Member of the Senedd Joe Martin from speaking until the elected member apologizes for raising mass migration and demographic replacement.
Huw Irranca-Davies, the Senedd’s speaker, issued the censorious ruling on Tuesday after Martin, who represents Caerdydd Penarth, asked during the business statement for a government statement “on the demographic replacement of white British people taking place in the UK.”
In remarks recorded in the draft official Record, Martin said: “Can I have a statement from your Government on the demographic replacement of white British people taking place in the UK? Because the scale of change has been breathtaking. Mass immigration and differing birth rates mean that, in just 37 years’ time, in 2063, we will be a minority in our own country. That change has already taken place in London, Birmingham, Leicester, Slough, Luton and Manchester, and I don’t want it to happen here. Indeed, at every opportunity, the majority of the electorate have wanted less immigration so that their nation can be preserved. A nation is not an economic zone, it’s not a hotel, and neither is it a charity. It’s a family, which is capable of absorbing people of all races if done at a sensible rate, but not if it’s replaced altogether.”
In a statement early Wednesday, Welsh Reform leader Helen Jenner said “Reform stands with Joe Martin,” adding: “Freedom of speech must be protected at all costs.”
Irranca-Davies said that, having discussed the matter with the Deputy Presiding Officer and reviewed the record alongside Standing Order 13.9, the contribution was “unnecessarily provocative and deliberately offensive.” He said: “Whilst it is always possible to raise legitimate policy matters in relation to immigration in this Siambr, the focus of that contribution on race and ethnicity was clearly discriminatory, offensive, and detracted from the dignity of the Senedd.” He added that he had previously warned Martin about his conduct. “Until I receive a clear indication that the Member understands the boundaries of acceptable parliamentary conduct and apologises to the Siambr, we will not be calling the Member to speak.”
