Peter Sceats on reducing immigration, racism in Reform, and why the climate shouldn’t be a priority in politics

As part of The Slice Tower Hamlets’ coverage of the general election, we interview Peter Sceats, Reform UK candidate for Bethnal Green and Stepney. 

Peter Sceats is the Reform UK candidate standing in Bethnal Green and Stepney. We quizzed him about the alleged racism within the party, why he doesn’t believe in net zero, and cutting immigration.

Sceats was born on Wilmot Street in Bethnal Green to publican parents. His family has more than 230 years of history in the area and the East End generally. 

One of his cousins, Lillian, died in the Bethnal Green Tube Disaster. It was one of the worst civilian casualties of WW2, where 172 were crushed to death at the entrance of the tube station after an air-raid warning sounded and caused panic. Sceats worked with the Stairway to Heaven Charity to raise money for the monument now in Bethnal Green Gardens.

Sceats spent 20 years working as head of risk at various companies, including Kazatomprom, the world’s largest producer and seller of natural uranium, BHP Billiton, a mining and metals company, and RWE, a German energy company.

In May 2022, he released his podcast series ‘The Peter Sceats Podcast – Coal: My Part in its Downfall’ on Spotify. In 2016, he founded Grand Union Co., a business cost-reduction company. Currently, he works mostly as an expert witness in energy litigation and as chairman of his family’s gin company ‘El-Bart/Camberwell Distillery’.

Sceats was a Referendum Party supporter and actively campaigned for Vote Leave in the 2016 EU referendum. That year, he stood as an independent candidate for councillor in his hometown ward of Brizes & Doddinghurst during Brentwood’s local election, finishing second to the Conservatives.

‘I think the concept of Left vs Right in politics is long over, it’s now Common-Sense vs a Woke, Climate-Obsessed, Tax-Hiking elite,’ Sceats said.

‘I see Reform UK as the home of common sense, and that’s what my constituents will get from me, along with hard work, efficiency and compassion.’

Watch the full interview:

For more of our general election coverage, read From Bethnal Green to the ballot box: The electoral mood on the street