A newly elected councillor who quit Reform UK after she was suspended over a social media post has described it as a “cult”, and accused the party’s leader Nigel Farage of treating its members with contempt.

Donna Edmunds, who was elected for Hodnet Ward in Shropshire, was suspended following a post on X about her plans to defect from the party after the local elections.

“I thought I was joining a party. It turned out I had joined a cult,” Edmunds said in a statement.

Reform UK is a ‘cult’, says suspended councillor, BBC