Reform Watch: Crypto donations, council tax hikes and 'unconscionable' plans to close care homes
Each week we cast over eyes over what Reform have been up to - from 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:
Reform UK has accepted the first ever cryptocurrency donation to a major political party in Europe, the Observer reports. The party has informed the Electoral Commission but has not declared the value of the donation. Parties only need to notify the electoral body if it is more than £11,180. No rules have been broken, but anti-corruption campaigners warn that Reform accepting cryptocurrency donations will enable untraceable foreign interference in UK politics.
Speaking of questionable dealings, Reform UK has been forced to reject more unlawful donations than any other British political party in 2025, according to the Financial Times. The party has had to give back almost £200,000 this year from 18 impermissible donors, according to Electoral Commission data. This is out of the 23 total donations turned away by British politicians in 2025.
A county councillor in Northumberland, Nicole Brooke, has claimed Reform UK is “not ready” for power at a national level after she was expelled from the party alongside her colleague Patrick Lambert for allegedly “misusing” the signatures of her colleagues as she sought to facilitate a vote of no confidence. She said: “This is a s***show. We were promised it was going to be professionalised, but we have had no training, nothing from head office – we have just been left.”
In Kent, councillor Robert Ford has been suspended over an “unofficial complaint” from several female members of staff. Ford “refused to engage” with the complaints process and is planning to take legal action.
Adding to the list of Reform-led councils planning to raise council tax next year – as reported in last week’s Reform Watch – is Leicestershire. Despite, of course, a promise to lower it. The group has been accused of a “web of lies” by making tax promises with “no plan or evidence behind them”. There are also more expected hikes in other Reform-led councils, including Lincolnshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.
Reform UK’s plan to potentially close care homes in Lancashire, in a bid to save money, has been called “unconscionable” by Lorraine Beavers, MP for Blackpool North and Fleetwood. The plans have caused a lot of tension in the council. Reform UK insist no decision has been made, but their opposition at Progressive Lancashire [a coalition of independents and Greens] challenged this, stating the authority has already drawn up its timetable for when residents, some over the age of 100, could be moved out of the facilities. Our sister title, The Lancashire Lead, has the story.
In Cornwall, Reform UK lost both its leader and deputy leader in a matter of days. The shock resignation of council leader Rob Parsonage, to focus on his constituents, came just after deputy leader Rowland O’Connor left after it became “clear that my own views and priorities for how best to serve local residents have increasingly diverged from those of the party.”
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