Labour MPs have called for a Reform UK election candidate in Essex to be suspended after he allegedly celebrated the rape of two Sikh women in the Midlands.

A joint investigation by the Mirror and the anti-racism campaign group Hope Not Hate alleged Stuart Prior, who is standing for Reform in Rayleigh West (for Essex county council) as well as Sweyne Park and Grange (for Rochford district council), had made a string of racist comments on social media in the past few months. This included declaring white people the “master race” and calling Muslim people “rats”.

Zarah Sultana, the former Labour MP and co-founder of Your Party, in a post on X in October, highlighted the rapes of two Sikh and Punjabi women in Walsall and Oldbury and said: “These horrifying attacks show how racism and misogyny feed each other – fuelled by the rise of fascism and hate.” In response, Prior, 54, is alleged to have said: “Good. Reap it.”

Two Sikh women, both in their 20s, were raped in separate attacks in Walsall and Oldbury last year. Last week, John Ashby, 32, was sentenced to life in prison for the racially motivated rape of the woman in Walsall.

Prior, when approached by a reporter from the Mirror, denied that he had made the comments and that he was a racist.

Four Labour MPs, Sarah Coombes, Antonia Bance, Gurinder Singh Josan and Alex Ballinger, from the metropolitan borough of Sandwell, West Midlands (in which Oldbury is situated), sent a joint letter to Reform’s leader in Sandwell, Ray Nock, calling on him to condemn the comments.

“The community in Sandwell was shaken to its core last year after a Sikh woman was raped in a racially aggravated attack. It has now emerged that a Reform candidate in Essex, Stuart Prior, has celebrated this attack,” the letter reads.

“Will you, as the leader of the Reform party in Sandwell, condemn this disgusting behaviour and will you write to Nigel Farage requesting Stuart Prior be immediately withdrawn as a Reform party candidate?”

The MPs also alleged a Reform candidate in Sandwell had shared “racist anti-Muslim beliefs” and called on Nock to withdraw their candidacy.

The HuffPost reported in April that Jonathan James Fox had shared a post in 2019 that said: “People who eat bacon are less likely to blow themselves up.” The MPs said this was a “clear statement of hatred against Muslims”.

It comes amid growing concerns over Reform’s vetting of candidates. Last week, Hope Not Hate highlighted the views of a number of Reform candidates, including one who had called for a “white Britain” and said Keir Starmer should be shot.

Farage, leader of Reform UK, previously insisted the party’s vetting processes had improved since the general election.

Reform UK, in response to the letter by the Labour MPs, said the party was thoroughly investigating the allegations, and the cases involving Prior and Fox were with the party’s disciplinary team.