Reform UK has reported Channel 4 to the Electoral Commission alleging "election interference" amid a row over undercover footage of a man the broadcaster said was a canvasser for the party.

Footage captured by the channel showed alleged Reform campaigner Andrew Parker using a racial slur against Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and saying the army should "shoot" migrants crossing the Channel.

Ahead of the broadcast, Parker told Channel 4 that "neither [Reform leader] Nigel Farage personally nor the Reform Party are aware of my personal views on immigration".

“I have never discussed immigration with either Nigel Farage or the Reform Party and that any comments made by me during those recordings are my own personal views on any subject I commented on," he said.

“I would therefore like to apologise profusely to Nigel Farage and the Reform Party if my personal views have reflected badly on them and brought them into disrepute as this was not my intention."

Reform UK’s secretary Adam Richardson has since claimed that Parker “was a plant” in the Channel 4 footage which was recorded by an undercover journalist.

In a letter to the Electoral Commission, Mr Richardson said: “We request an immediate investigation into both Mr Parker and Channel 4 News, including any production houses that might have been used to create the piece.”

He added: "Parker is not a property developer as he has alleged but a jobbing actor."

Mr Richardson continued: " It is wholly unbelievable that by complete coincidence Channel 4 were performing an undercover investigation and by chance were paired up to go canvassing with a man who was pretending to be someone else, using a false voice and saying almost exclusively racist and bigoted remarks."

When he was told that Reform UK had reported Channel 4 to the Electoral Commission, Mr Parker said: “Good, I’m glad.”

He declined to say whether he had been paid by Channel 4 to appear in the footage, instead telling the PA news agency that “it’ll all come out in the papers, what’ll come out is the truth”.

Parker declined to comment further.

Farage has also called the reporting into question, claiming on Loose Women that Parker was a "set-up" but declining to elaborate further.

A spokesperson for Channel 4 News said: "We strongly stand by our rigorous and duly impartial journalism which speaks for itself.

"We met Mr Parker for the first time at Reform UK party headquarters, where he was a Reform party canvasser.

"We did not pay the Reform UK canvasser or anyone else in this report. Mr Parker was not known to Channel 4 News and was filmed covertly via the undercover operation."