Jay Cooper #

Introduction #

Jay Leslie Cooper is a British politician who was elected as a Reform UK councillor for the Bootle West ward on Sefton Council, Merseyside, in the local elections of May 2026, and who resigned from the party days later after his Facebook posts calling the Holocaust a “hoax” and “propaganda” came to light. Nigel Farage personally declared Cooper “not welcome” in Reform UK following the emergence of the remarks, and Cooper — having deleted the posts and apologised — left the party, which also revoked his membership, while continuing to sit as an independent councillor.

Background Information #

Cooper stood for Reform UK in Sefton Council’s “all-out” elections as a candidate for the Bootle West ward, one of three seats available in the ward, and his online history was already attracting attention during the campaign: the Liverpool Echo reported before polling day that he had posted on Facebook that The Holocaust was a “hoax” and had shared material alleging “ultimate” proof that the 9/11 terror attacks were fake. When Reform was asked about the allegations before the election, the party told the Echo it was “looking into” his online activity, and Cooper remained on the ballot paper. On 8 May 2026 he was elected, taking one of Bootle West’s three available seats.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #

The controversy centred on Cooper’s own Facebook posts, made the previous year, in which he described the Holocaust as a “hoax” and “propaganda” — statements that place him among the small number of openly Holocaust-denying politicians elected in modern Britain. The story, first reported by the Liverpool Echo during the campaign, escalated nationally after his victory, and following the emergence of the remarks Reform UK’s leader Nigel Farage stated that Cooper was “not welcome” within the party. Cooper deleted the posts and issued a public apology on his Facebook page — the statement published alongside a photograph of himself at his desk, which the Independent carried with its report — acknowledging that his comments were “poorly expressed” and had caused upset, while never disputing that he had written them. The apology did not save his membership: the party’s response, once its leader had spoken, was already fixed.

Public Reaction and Consequences #

The consequences followed within days of the election. Cooper resigned from Reform UK, and the party revoked his membership; because he had been elected in his own right, he did not lose his council seat and instead continued to serve his constituents as an independent councillor. The episode became one of the defining early scandals of Reform’s May 2026 cohort: within days of the results, the party lost or suspended multiple newly elected councillors over their online histories, with Cooper’s Holocaust denial — and his leader’s personal disavowal — among the most damaging, and Hope Not Hate’s rolling list of problematic Reform candidates cited his case in its broader critique of the party’s vetting. The total-shares tracker of Reform councillor departures kept by commentators lists Cooper among the first of the new intake to go, “declared ’not welcome’ by Farage personally after reports he had called the Holocaust a hoax, before resigning”.

Current Status #

Cooper sits as an independent councillor for Bootle West on Sefton Council, having been ejected from Reform UK but not from office, and having apologised for — while never disputing that he wrote — the posts in question. Holocaust denial is not a criminal offence in the UK, and no legal proceedings have been reported against him; the consequence he suffered was political, not legal. Reform UK has not moved to contest the seat, and his independent status leaves the party without the councillor it elected.

Impact on Their Career/Life #

Cooper’s party career lasted barely longer than the post-election news cycle: a candidate Reform had continued to back during the campaign despite knowing of the Echo’s investigation became, days after winning, the first councillor Farage publicly declared “not welcome”, with his membership revoked by the party he had just helped win a seat. His case became a standard reference in national coverage of Reform’s vetting failures, cited alongside the suspended and expelled councillors of the same month as evidence that the party’s rapid growth had outpaced its ability to screen candidates. Sitting as an independent, his political identity is now permanently attached to the denial that ended his Reform career.