Reform Watch: bus lanes, back tracks and more racism
Each week we cast over eyes over what Reform have been up to – from bizarre proclamations to the detail of how their attempts to run councils are going.
The Lead is keeping an eye on Reform UK and their fellow travellers. Get in touch on X, Bluesky and Instagram or email ella@thelead.uk with tips and stories. We especially want to hear from readers whose local council is now run by Farage’s followers. In today’s edition:
First up, Lancashire’s Reform-led council has backed a bus gate in Preston despite calls to re-examine it. This appears to go against Reform’s general stance on bus gates, at least where it sits in opposition, rather than in power. In Bristol and Southampton, Reform is actively campaigning against bus gates. Read the full story on The Lancashire Lead. It is becoming very clear that Reform in government looks very different from Reform in opposition; check out our latest video on a controversial suggestion to close care facilities in Lancashire.
Nigel Farage made headlines this week with his speech about the economy. As well as bailing on his promise to deliver large tax cuts (“not realistic”), he also suggested lowering minimum wage for younger workers, lowering benefits and weakening worker protections. As our Westminster editor Zoë Grünewald put it on Tuesday, Farage’s big tent is full of holes.
Farage is also facing a parliamentary standards investigation due to a late registration of interests, including a visit to Florida to speak at a $500-a-head Donald Trump fundraiser. Farage said it was “an error” and said he’d correct the record.
Reform councillor Alexander Jones, who ran for mayor in Doncaster in May, has been accused of making openly racist comments online. According to Byline Times, in a now-deleted post following the train attack on Sunday, Jones explicitly attributed the crime to “individuals” who were “not English” and instead “Black and of Caribbean descent”. When a commenter noted that the killer was British, Jones replied that being “English” is tied to racial “lineage” and “Anglo-Saxon heritage”.
Finally, Leicestershire County Council has announced it is to pay consultants £1.4m to carry out a cost cutting review. Need we say more?
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