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A Reform MP who said 'it drives me mad when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people' has apologised after facing a furious backlash over her comments. Sarah Pochin, who became the party's first by-election-winning MP with victory in Runcorn and Helsby this May, said her comments were 'phrased poorly'. However, the 56-year-old insisted that many adverts are 'unrepresentative of British society'. Ms Pochin, who has previously called for a ban on the burqa in Britain, made the comments on TalkTV when responding to a viewer who had taken issue with the demographics of modern-day advertising. She said the viewer was 'absolutely right' and that 'it drives me mad when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people'. Ms Pochin continued: 'It doesn't reflect our society and I feel that your average white person, average white family is... not represented anymore.' The MP also blamed the situation on the 'woke liberati' in the 'arty-farty world', adding: 'It might be fine inside the M25, but it's definitely not representative of the rest of the country.' Ms Pochin has since come under fire for the comments by Labour, whose party chairwoman says it 'shows once again that Reform are more interested in dividing our country than uniting it'. Anna Turley said: 'It's astonishing that a senior Reform MP is spending her time counting the numbers of people with a different skin colour to her on TV adverts. 'Defining British people by the colour of their skin is completely unacceptable and shows once again that Reform are more interested in dividing our country than uniting it. 'Nigel Farage needs to condemn this now, and urgently clarify whether Sarah Pochin's views on race are welcome in his party.' In her apology, Ms Pochin said she was trying to say the advertising industry had gone 'DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) mad'. She posted to X: 'My comments on a Talk TV phone-in earlier today were phrased poorly and I unreservedly apologise for any offence caused, which was not my intention. 'The point I was making is that many British TV adverts have gone DEI mad and are now unrepresentative of British society as a whole. This is not an attack on any group but an observation about balance and fairness in how our country is portrayed on screen. 'A study commissioned by Channel 4 as part of its Mirror on the Industry project, found that Black people were featured in more than half of adverts in 2022, up sharply from 37 per cent in 2020 following the Black Lives Matter movement. 'By contrast, Black people make up around 4 per cent of the population in England and Wales, according to the 2021 Census. 'Representation in advertising should reflect the diversity of modern Britain, but it should also be proportionate and inclusive of everyone. My comments were made in that context, and I stand by the principle that equality should mean fairness for all. Ms Pochin was on the receiving end of criticism by members of her own party in June this year over her question to Sir Keir Starmer during Prime Minister's Questions about banning the burqa. Zia Yusuf, when he was Reform's chairman, hit out at the MP's 'dumb' question in the House of Commons. Ms Pochin asked Sir Keir if he would support outlawing the burqa - which is worn by some Muslim women - 'in the interests of public safety'. But Reform officials sowed confusion by later revealing that banning the burqa is not the party's official policy. In a hint at an internal party row, Mr Yusuf posted on X: 'I do think it's dumb for a party to ask the PM if they would do something the party itself wouldn't do.' The Reform chairman said that Ms Pochin's question was 'nothing to do with me' as he was 'busy with other stuff'. 'Had no idea about the question nor that it wasn't policy,' he added.
