Reform has been forced to suspend two councillors in Nigel Farage’s own constituency this week, one over “serious misconduct” and another for “damaging the party’s interests”.

On Wednesday, Bradley Thompson was suspended. Thompson is a councillor for Clacton West and St Osyth ward on Essex County Council, as well as for West Clacton and Jaywick Sands for Tendring District Council.

Reform says he was suspended “following several serious and well-documented allegations of misconduct”, but has not provided any details of the allegations.

On 17 September,  Reform issued a blanket statement saying councillor Chris Perera had been suspended after a party investigation found “he damaged the party’s interests”. 

Perera is a councillor for Mersea and Pyefleet ward on Essex County Council.

Thompson and Perera both won their council seats in Farage’s constituency on 7 May this year.

In Lichfield, councillor Dean Robertson was suspended from Reform pending an investigation earlier this week. 

Matthew Wallens, a Lichfield District and Staffordshire County Councillor, was also suspended by Reform pending investigation this week. 

In Durham, three Reform councillors –  Lyndsey Fox, Nicole Brown and Paul Sexton – quit the party last week after Sky News did an investigation into political chaos and bullying allegations at the Reform-led local authority.

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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Reform-run South Tyneside Council has voted to close 10 council-subsidised nursery facilities by 31 July next year, in a move that has sparked anger among parents and nursery workers.

The Reform cabinet voted to close all of the South Tyneside Accredited Network for Learning in the Early Years (Stanley’s) nurseries yesterday. 

A total of 116 people are employed across the 10 nurseries.

The Reform council said it was “not viable” to keep the facilities open, as they require a subsidy of £1.1 million per year. 

The authority needs to make £11.6 million in savings for 2026/27. 

South Tyneside Council’s lead member for children’s services, Michelle Fascione, said: “The council unfortunately doesn’t have a statutory obligation to provide these nurseries and it’s been costing us £1.1m a year to subsidise and it’s not viable for the future.

“As a new administration within South Tyneside, it would have been great for us if we could have kept them open, but in reality there was just no way it could be done.”

A review of the future of these nurseries was launched under the then Labour administration in February this year. When Reform took control of the authority in May, the party said it would continue the review.

Leader of the opposition on the council, Green councillor Rachael Taylor, wrote a statement on Facebook saying she was “deeply disappointed that Cabinet has voted to close all 10 STANLEY’s nurseries within 10 minutes of the meeting starting despite significant questions that still require proper answers”.

She said “concerns remain around SEND, children’s services, alternative childcare capacity and the financial implications including what funding will actually be available to deliver the proposed mitigation and action points”.

After the Reform cabinet announced the decision, members of the public in the gallery spoke out in outrage.

One woman could be heard saying: “You should be absolutely ashamed of yourselves. Absolutely disgusting.”

She added that at a scrutiny meeting the day before council officers “could not provide one single piece of evidence to back that [the decision] up”. 

Another said: “Where are your PROUD values now?”, in reference to the council’s commitment to being professional, respectful, open and honest, understanding and engaging and “delivering what we say we will”. 

In a post on X, journalist Kevin Maguire wrote: “The Hard Right party’s South Tyneside councillors had the public gallery cleared after angry parents shouted “shame”.”

He added: “You can’t blame migrants for this, Farage.”

Geraldine Kilgour, a Labour councillor for Fellgate and Hedworth ward in South Tyneside, told Left Foot Forward that while the previous Labour administration was reviewing childcare provision, the idea of closing the nurseries “wasn’t even on the lips of anyone on the Labour group”.

“Review of day care centres was, as we were advised, part and parcel of good practice and doing due diligence,” Kilgour said.

The Labour councillor said that “what they [Reform] should have done was review the service, as we said and look to maximising its capabilities”. She said that the decision to close the 10 nurseries was avoidable “without a doubt” and called the move “callous and heartless”.

She added that childcare will now cost parents “a lot more”, with one resident saying they are currently paying £400 per month, but that they could now pay around £1,000 per month at a Private, Voluntary or Independent nursery.

Kilgour also said that Reform is now reviewing milk provision for under 5s, which is a statutory service. “There’s something amiss, I think they’re targeting the most vulnerable,” Kilgour said.

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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A new mega poll has projected that if an election were held tomorrow, there would be a hung parliament with Labour winning the most seats, followed by the Tories and Reform in third place.

The poll puts Labour on 241 seats, down from the 411 the party won in the 2024 election and 85 seats short of the 326 required for an overall majority.

The figures mark a significant recovery for Labour compared to this time last year, when a YouGov poll indicated that Keir Starmer’s Labour was leading in just 144 seats. 

It does however mean Labour would have to form a coalition with other parties, such as the Lib Dems, SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Greens. 

The projection puts the Lib Dems on track to win 71 seats, the SNP on 40, Plaid Cymru on 15, and the Greens on nine. 

In a blow to Nigel Farage, the poll shows a sharp decline in support for Reform over the last year.

The median estimate of today’s Multilevel Regression and Poststratification (MRP) poll shows Nigel Farage’s party winning in 123 constituencies.

In last year’s MRP, YouGov projected that Reform would win 311 seats, putting the party in first place and 15 seats shy of a majority.

The poll puts the Conservatives in second place on 130 seats, meaning that even if Kemi Badenoch’s party joined forces with Reform, the parties would still be 73 seats short of a majority. 

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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Reform-run North Northamptonshire Council is set to propose a motion to scrap the council’s climate emergency declaration at a meeting this evening.

Leon Gibbs, a Reform councillor who has seconded the motion, says that Reform is scrapping the declaration because it does not believe in declaring an emergency “while simultaneously working towards a target 24 years away”. 

Gibbs also said that Reform “care deeply about the future of North Northamptonshire’s environment and believe the council should focus its efforts and resources on the areas where it can make a real difference”.

The climate emergency declaration was adopted in 2021 under the then Conservative-run administration.

Last year, the Reform-run executive voted to scrap the council’s target to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, delaying it to 2050 in line with the national net-zero target.

Ben Williams, deputy leader of the Green group, pointed out that the net zero target is now 24 years away because Reform pushed it back.

Reacting to Gibbs’ comment that Reform cares about the future of North Northamptonshire’s environment, Williams said: “Their actions so far don’t reflect that sentiment.”

He added: “There are so many opportunities on the table that they could invest in whether it’s renewable energy or insulating people’s homes, there’s no evidence of any of that.”

“For them to delay the net zero target from 2030 to 2050 is one thing, then to now not declare an emergency and not measure carbon is another,” he said.

Williams noted that over 20 members of the public have requested to speak on the  motion at the meeting today.

“Reform can’t say residents don’t care about this because it’s an item that has had such an insane amount of interest from the public,” Williams said.

The motion is likely to pass as Reform has a majority of 12 on the council. However, there is widespread opposition to scrapping the climate emergency declaration among opposition councillors. 

The Northamptonshire Telegraph has also reported that protesters plan to gather outside Corby Cube, the council building, this evening to oppose the motion.

Despite several Reform having scrapped climate emergency declarations at several councils it runs, including in Derbyshire, Durham, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Kent, voters are concerned about climate change.

Polling by Ipsos in August found that 74% of voters report being concerned about climate change.

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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The Green Party has sent out an email to all party members encouraging them to skip party conference and campaign for Zack Polanski in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election instead.

The party has told members that they can cancel their tickets to annual party conference so they can go out and campaign ahead of the crunch vote on 8 October.

The email says: “We need hundreds of you, on the streets, everyday, including Saturday 3rd & Sunday 4th October.”

The Green Party’s annual conference will take place in Brighton from 2 to 4 October.

The message goes on to say: “It isn’t just about Zack, although he has given this party so much and we owe it to him to work as hard for him as he has for us.

“But more crucially this is about what our job is. Our job is to get Greens elected.”

The party has offered to refund members who have already bought their conference passes.

At the bottom of the email, it says: “Cancel your plans!”.

One Green party member who received the email said they felt the tone of the message was “really poor”. 

Commenting on the email, a Green Party spokesperson said: “Many of our members are torn between wanting to be at conference and wanting to contribute to getting our next Green MP elected in Holborn and St Pancras. This is a suggestion of how they can do that, including accessing full voting rights through attending online.
 

“Unlike Labour, we cannot put down a three-line whip to Cabinet ministers to go and campaign in London, we’re a people-powered movement. Every day, our members and supporters are giving up their time to knock on doors and talk to voters because they know we can win.
 

“Meanwhile our conference plans are in full swing – it will still be the most democratic of all the political parties and the most well-attended we have ever held.”

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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Reform MP Robert Jenrick has backed Sunderland City Council’s decision to refuse to support Wear Red Day, a campaign day run Show Racism the Red Card.

In a series of posts on X, Jenrick also suggested that the council was right to pull funding from anti-racism charity Show Racism the Red Card.

However, the charity has made clear that the current administration was not providing any funding to the organisation and that it has only withdrawn its support for Wear Red Day on 16 October. 

James Kingett, North East education manager at Show Racism the Red Card, told Left Foot Forward that the charity has not yet had a conversation with the current leadership about funding, but “we would speculate that this is not a good sign”. 

The Reform leader of Sunderland City Council, Chris Eynon, said in a council meeting that the council would not be supporting Wear Red Day this year due to comments the anti-racism charity’s CEO Ged Grebby has posted about Reform online.

In the meeting, Eynon read out some posts Grebby had published on X that were critical of Reform, including him saying that “Reform is a very very dangerous organisation” and that “racists have been emboldened by Farage”. 

Jenrick accused Grebby’s X account of being “a sewer of anti-Reform rants”.

The Tory turncoat turned Reform MP said that given Reform won 58 out of the 72 seats on the council in May, “Residents would be right to question whether this organisation should be supported financially by their council under Mr Grebby’s leadership”.

However, Jenrick’s claim overlooks the fact that Show Racism the Red Card is not currently “supported financially” by the Reform-run council.

Jenrick made the comments on X after he refused to say whether he supported Show Racism the Red Card in an interview with LBC’s Nick Ferrari.

Asked if he agreed with Eynon’s claims that Show Racism the Red Card is a “politically charged organisation with an agenda”, Jenrick said: “I don’t know, Nick, what lies behind that.”

Pressed on whether he thinks the football anti-racism initiative is “politically charged”, Jenrick repeated that he didn’t know “the evidence” behind the comments.

He then added: “Do I think it’s reasonable Nick, for a local authority to make choices about what charities and organisations they support? Yes, absolutely.”

Ferrari asked if Jenrick supported driving racism out of football. Jenrick responded: “The aim is obviously laudable but I don’t know what lies behind the decision.”

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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The Centre for a Better Britain, a think tank linked to Reform UK, has released a new report which calls for the state pension to be scrapped and for several key taxes to be abolished.

The think tank has said that the state pension, which everyone receives as long as they have paid national insurance contributions, should be replaced with an income and asset-based system.

This means people’s retirement income would come more from their savings than from government support. 

The CFABB, formerly known as Resolute 1850, was founded by Jonathan Brown, the former chief operating officer of Reform UK.

The paper also calls for the Local Government Pension Scheme, which guarantees a secure retirement income for public sector workers based on their income and years of service, to be closed to all new entrants.

Alongside its pension proposals, Centre for a Better Britain (CFABB) also advocates for several tax-cutting measures that would disproportionately benefit those with wealth contained in assets.

The report calls for the abolition of inheritance tax and capital gains tax, the tax paid when an asset is sold. 

The Office for Budget Responsibility projects that revenues from inheritance tax will climb to nearly £11.7 billion by 2027-28. 

Capital gains tax receipts generated over £22 billion for the public purse in 2025/26.

CFABB also calls for corporation tax to be slashed from 25% to 15%. The report claims that the tax rate makes Britain “uncompetitive”. However, the UK’s corporation tax rate is comparable with corporate tax rates in other Western European economies including France and Germany.

Reform has pledged to end the generous defined benefit pension schemes currently available to public sector workers for all new entrants if it wins power.

The party has said it would replace the Local Government Pension Scheme with a defined contribution scheme after 2030. 

In their 2024 manifesto, Reform said it would raise the inheritance tax threshold to £2 million and reduce corporation tax to 15% as part of a raft of £90 billion in tax cuts.

In November last year, Reform U-turned on the tax cut proposals, stating that the “substantial tax cuts” were “not realistic” citing “the dire state of debt and our finances” in the UK.

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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Lib Dem members have passed a motion at their annual autumn conference calling on the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to review its new code of practice on trans people.

The new code of practice, which came into force on 5 August, only allows people to use public spaces based on their biological sex at birth.

An emergency motion submitted to Lib Dem conference by LGBT+ Lib Dems yesterday evening expressed “concern” that the new guidance “bars trans people from facilities aligned with their lived gender”. 

It described the rules as “discriminatory” and “unworkable”, and called for the EHRC to issue a new code of practice that is “inclusive, workable and ensures everybody can safely access public facilities and providers are protected from legal risk”. 

It also called for a dedicated cross-party parliamentary committee “to review how the law should better protect trans people’s rights”.

The motion passed easily on a show of hands. 

One speaker in favour of the motion, Rebecca Jones, said that as a trans woman she was “tired of being a culture war prop”.

She said: “You now fear using public spaces. You fear anyone that looks at you too much in case they hate trans people enough that they put you at risk. All whilst your government repeats the words ‘dignity’ and ‘respect’, whilst doing everything in their power to ensure trans people do not have them.”

Earlier in the day the party leader, Ed Davey, told the BBC he supported the motion, calling the EHRC guidance not “fit for purpose”.

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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Andy Burnham has not ruled out including a pledge for Britain to rejoin the EU in Labour’s next election manifesto.

Speaking to journalists ahead of his first meeting with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, today, Burnham did not rule out Britain rejoining the EU and said he would continue Keir Starmer’s focus on strengthening ties with the bloc.

Asked by reporters on his flight to New York on Monday for the UN general assembly whether he would rule out a reversal of Brexit being in the next Labour manifesto, he said: “Our focus at the moment is on a UK/EU summit which we hope will take place later this year.

“My immediate priority is to build on the good work that Keir did in rebuilding bridges. Because those bridges were broken in the early part of this decade. And Keir did a good job in re-establishing that relationship.

“What we have got to do now is go to the next level in terms of reaching practical agreement that will further boost the British economy. And those issues are the substance of the summit alongside EU requests around youth mobility.”

Referring to rejoining the EU, he said: “The other issues you discuss — they are for another day.”

Burnham was critical of the “turbulence” Brexit has caused over the last decade.

He told reporters on the plane, that “reflecting on that last decade, what we’ve experienced is when that turbulence comes, when outside actors seek to manipulate, to distort facts, influence the British democratic process.

“Going into the next decade we need to be clear-eyed about that and become stronger and more on the front foot about challenging that.

“Perhaps Britain can say we have experienced some of the turbulence before others in terms of the politics of recent times. We need to be clearer where outside forces, our enemies, are trying to manipulate that opinion and feeling to serve their interests, not ours.”

A new poll by YouGov for Best for Britain found that in all but four of the 632 seats in Britain, rejoining the EU was the most popular option.

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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Reform-run Sunderland City Council has been condemned over its decision to withdraw support for a campaign day organised by local anti-racism charity Show Racism the Red Card.

In a council meeting on 16 September, Reform council leader Chris Eynon said the council would no longer support Show Racism the Red Card’s Wear Red Day, their campaign day on 16 October.

Show Racism the Red Card says Wear Red Day is “a national moment of allyship and solidarity with those who are facing racist abuse and hostilities”.

Participation from the council would have involved council staff showing their support for the campaign day and encouraging others to do the same.

It would have also involved lighting key public assets red, such as Sunderland’s Penshaw monument, on 16 October as a show of solidarity.

Leader of the opposition on Sunderland City Council, Paul Edgeworth, called the decision “terrible” and “really pig-headed”. 

Eynon said Reform had made the decision because of the “very very stark political bias” of the anti-racism charity’s founder Ged Grebby.

In the meeting, Eynon read out some posts Grebby had published on X that were critical of Reform, including him saying that “Reform is a very very dangerous organisation” and that “racists have been emboldened by Farage”. 

Eynon also cited Grebby attending Labour Party conference and having met with trade unions and Labour MP Kim McGuinness as reasons for Reform withdrawing support for the organisation.

Eynon said “we don’t mind supporting good causes, we’re really happy to get behind things like carers’ week and the White Ribbon campaign but we have no plans on supporting politically charged organisations with an agenda.”

Edgeworth told Left Foot Forward that the decision was “terrible”, adding “Just recently we had Romaine Mundle, who’s a Sunderland player suffering racist abuse at a match so it’s clearly still happening in Sunderland and across the country.”

On 22 February, Sunderland AFC put out a statement condemning the “vile online racist abuse” that Mundle was subjected to after a match against Fulham.

The Lib Dem councillor for Grindon and Thornley Close added: “Whatever Reform’s view is of individuals involved with the campaign, it just sends a terrible message.”

He said of Reform’s decision: “It’s not representative of Sunderland, we are a welcoming place where people from all over the world have chosen to make their home.”

“It just sends completely the wrong signal and is really pig-headed of Reform.”

In a statement, Ged Grebby, Chief Executive of Show Racism the Red Card, said: “Show Racism the Red Card have worked with Sunderland City Council throughout its 30 year history, and are proud of the charity’s North East roots. We are disappointed in the statement made by the Leader of Sunderland City Council stating that they will not be supporting Wear Red Day this year. 

“In our experience, the people of Sunderland have traditionally demonstrated a welcoming, inclusive and anti-racist attitude, and believe it is important that voters see this decision as further evidence that the Council are unsupportive of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives.”

James Kingett, an education team manager at Show Racism the Red Card, said that the campaign group was “disappointed with the justification for the decision being aligned with the personal views of the chief executive”.

On Eynon’s accusation that Show Racism the Red Card is a “politically charged organisation”, Kingett said that the charity is “apolitical organisation” adding: “We educate people against racism, we help people understand where it comes from [..] and the impact is has on black and global majority people and traditionally minoritised communities.”

In his statement, the Reform council leader said the council would still support anti-racism initiatives.

Kingett said “this positive to a certain extent”, adding: “We would just question why they felt that Show Racism the Red Card and the Wear Red Day initiative was an initiative that they could no longer support”.

This comes after Reform UK-led administration pulled £10,000 in council funding for the city’s Pride events in June.

Just weeks after taking over control of Sunderland City Council from Labour in May, Reform also announced that it would “never” fly the Pride flag outside City Hall.

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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Stand Up to Racism has denied Rupert Lowe’s claim that one of its activists “scalded” a Restore Britain campaigner at a counter-protest in Camden on Saturday.

Lewis Holmes, a Restore Britain activist, claimed he was “attacked by a member of the stand up to racism and socialist worker party with boiling liquid” while he was campaigning for the party ahead of the Holborn and St Pancras by-election.

Responding to the claim, the anti-racism campaign group shared a video of Holmes spilling a small amount of liquid on his hand as he threw a disposable coffee cup in the bin.

Stand Up To Racism says that police said a passerby bumped into him which caused him to spill the liquid.

Holmes spilt the liquid as a Stand Up to Racism activist asked him questions about Restore Britain’s relationship with neo-Nazi figure Patrick McGinnis.

The anti-racism campaigner repeatedly asked Holmes: “Are you aware of Pat McGinnis’ Nazi past? When you [Restore Britain] put him on the nomination papers as the primary signatory, were you aware that he was an anti-semite?”.

McGinnis is listed as the primary signatory for Tyler Johnson’s nomination as Restore Britain’s candidate in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election which will take place on 8 October. The by-election was triggered by Keir Starmer stepping down as an MP on 1 September.

McGinnis published a video in which he said “Jewish ideas are destroying our country, not Islamic ideas”. He also blamed jewish ideas for feminism, transgender inclusion, the decline of Christianity, Britain’s economic problems and the alleged weakening of national institutions.

Holmes did not answer the questions about McGinnis.

Responding to the video on X, Holmes wrote: “Now share the full video you vile mob. 

“This was at the hospital yesterday where my injuries were treated. 

“I did my duty to stay cool, calm and collected whilst you caused harassment, alarm and distress, and physically attacked our campaigners, including me.”

Holmes shared a picture of himself putting water on his leg in a bath. The photo prompted people to question whether it was taken in a hospital.

In a post on X on Saturday, Lowe wrote: “Following today’s attack, we have taken the decision to cancel tomorrow’s Restore Britain campaigning session in Holborn and St Pancras. 

“A donor has kindly offered to fund the delivery of those leaflets instead.

“Remarkably, we are now in the position where our campaigners can’t congregate in our capital city without the fear of being scalded with boiling liquid.”

Lowe also said that from next week he would arrange private security for Restore Britain’s by-election campaign events.

Reacting to Lowe’s claim, Stand Up to Racism wrote the following message on their X account: “Earlier@RupertLowe10 claimed that his campaigner manager in Holborn, Lewis Holmes, had been attacked with boiling liquid. Police now say a passerby knocked his coffee, which he spilt on his leg.”

Police confirmed that a woman was arrested on Saturday after a Restore campaigner was allegedly “punched in the face” while handing out campaign leaflets in London.

Lowe and Holmes have been approached for comment.

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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The deputy leader of the Lib Dems, Daisy Cooper, has backed Ed Davey as leader and said he is the right person to lead the party into the next general election.

Speaking to Channel 4 News from the Lib Dems’ annual autumn conference in Bournemouth, Cooper “fundamentally disagreed” with criticisms of his leadership.

Ayshah Tull, a Channel 4 News correspondent read out a quote from Julian Brazil, the Lib Dem leader of Devon County Council, who said the party is  “sleepwalking into irrelevance” under Davey.

Brazil told the BBC that the party was “lacking ambition” and “not saying the things that people can relate to”.

Tull said: “That’s got to hurt hasn’t it?”. 

Cooper responded: “No, I just disagree fundamentally. Look, Ed is an economist, he’s a former climate minister and he’s a carer.”

She added: “I can’t think of another person in Parliament who has the same experience to deliver for people, planet and prosperity. He’s the right leader for us.”

Tull then said that a Lib Dem supporter had told Channel 4 News’ Paul McNamara that Cooper could be the right person to replace Davey.

Cooper’s response was “That’s very sweet, but there’s no vacancy”, and again backed Davey, saying “Ed is the right person to take us into the next general election”.

The Channel 4 News reporter then put it to Cooper that there had been “disquiet” among Lib Dem ranks, as Labour, the Conservatives and Reform have all been “having their difficulties over the year and you haven’t been able to capitalise”.

Cooper denied that this was a “fair assessment”, and said that the Lib Dems had got the best general election result ever in the party’s history at the 2024 election, electing 72 MPs. 

The party now has 71 MPs following the suspension of Cameron Thomas MP after he was arrested during a police investigation.

Cooper added: “Now we are half way through the Parliament we are firmly fixing our eyes on the next general election, winning more seats so we can help build a liberal country and also stop Farage and Badenoch getting the keys to number 10.”

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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The Lib Dem leader Ed Davey has said Reform doesn’t represent the majority of British people and that the party only cares about its bank balance.

Davey told Lib Dem conference on Saturday that Reform fights because of the mega donations it receives from crypto billionaires.

He praised conference speakers earlier in the day for sharing stories of “why we care and why we fight”.

By contrast, he said Reform “care about their own bank balance”.

He added: “They fight because two crypto billionaires gave them seventy-two million quid”. 

Davey also said: “Reform know they don’t speak for the real United Kingdom. That they don’t represent the majority of the British people.

Referring to the two donations of £36 million that Reform received from crypto billionaires Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo on the 11 and 12 September, he said: “They wouldn’t need seventy-two million pounds if they did, would they?”.

Ahead of the next election, Davey said the Lib Dems will fight against Reform’s “nasty populism” and “arsenal of hate and lies”. 

Davey recalled his first political campaign as a student, when he successfully campaigned for his university college, Jesus College, Oxford, to boycott Barclays, due to its investments in apartheid-era South Africa.

He said his party will fight again to end injustices and “defeat the nasty populism of Trump, Le Pen, the AfD and the rest”.

In a swipe at Elon Musk, he said his party would “fight to stop the world’s richest man, who learnt racism in apartheid South Africa, from funding racism around the world”.

Davey said the Lib Dems will also “fight against Reform, and their seventy-two-million-pound arsenal of hate and lies”.

He also referred to “the fight to defend the RNLI”, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, after volunteers for the coastal rescue charity were recently targeted online amid a rise in anti-immigration campaigning. 

The Lib Dem leader said that “what Farage is counting on to get him into No 10” is that people get “tired, depressed, fed up of seeing Zia Yusuf on BBC Question Time week after week”.

He said he hoped Reform was watching, “Because what they’ll see, what they’ll hear is a party that won’t be ground down. That won’t be deterred. That won’t give up the fight”.

The Lib Dems’ autumn conference started on Saturday 19 September and will run until Tuesday 22 September.

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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Reform UK’s X account has put out a photo of Tory-turned-Reform UK MP Suella Braverman with a JCB digger during a visit to the construction equipment company’s HQ in Staffordshire.

J.C Bamford Excavators Limited donated £200,000 to Reform UK in November last year, as well as £200,000 to the Conservatives.

The chair of JCB, Anthony Bamford, and his brother Mark have been subject to a long-running investigation by HMRC due to their attempts to aggressively minimise their payment of tax in the UK by holding their money in offshore tax havens and companies. 

The social media post featured a photo of Braverman with a JCB digger and JCB workers, with the caption: “One message stood out to Suella Braverman while visiting apprentices at the JCB World HQ today.

“Britain is overdue a Skills Revolution, with more apprenticeships for young British people.”

One X user wrote: “Here are Reform actively promoting one of their donors and advertising their product.”

Nigel Farage, Richard Tice, Lee Anderson, Robert Jenrick, Zia Yusuf, Sarah Pochin have also all used their social media platforms to promote the JCB Pothole Pro machine.

In July, Reform’s candidate in the Manchester mayoral election, Sian Astley, used an election campaign video to talk about potholes and promote the Pothole Pro. 

This is despite the mayoral position she was running for not being responsible for upkeep of the roads. 

Last month, Andrew Harrison, the Reform leader of Leicestershire County Council, and his highways cabinet member Andrew Hamilton-Gray, announced that the council had signed up to trial the Pothole Pro. 

This is despite an assessment by highways officers in Leicestershire in 2025 concluding the vehicle was “too big” to deploy efficiently and was “not economical”. 

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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The Greens picked Zack Polanski, the leader of the Green Party, as their candidate in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election at a hustings last night.

The by-election, which will take place on 8 October, was triggered by Keir Starmer stepping down as an MP after being ousted as prime minister by Andy Burnham in July.

Polanski has said the Greens, which gained 10 seats on Camden Council at the local elections in May, are the “underdog” in this contest, but that he thinks the party can  “achieve a historic victory in one of Labour’s safest seats”. 

Local councillor Hamza Chowdhury stood against Polanski for the nomination, saying that the constituency did not need “another MP who arrives during an election campaign” and “disappears once the votes are counted”.

Green MP Hannah Spencer said that local party members “overwhelmingly” chose Polanski in the vote.

Reacting to winning the selection, Polanski said: “We will fight a positive campaign on the issues we know people care about, and to put as much pressure as we can on Labour to lower bills, for much more affordable housing and rent controls, to reduce massive wealth inequality and to make sure Labour don’t back down on climate action by allowing more North Sea drilling. 

“If elected, I will fight every day, in this constituency and in the Houses of Parliament, for the things people care about. Against injustice and on the side of ordinary people, not big money and the powerful.” 

On Wednesday, Labour selected the Camden council leader, Sagal Abdi-Wali, as its candidate.

According to The Guardian, some in Labour are understood to be concerned that announcements on Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields may undermine the campaign.

The government is expected to announce whether it will approve Jackdaw as soon as next week. However, an announcement on Rosebank oil field is expected to be delayed until after the byelection.

Abdi-Wali said in a post on X that prime minister Andy Burnham had visited the constituency yesterday to join her for her first day of by-election campaigning. 

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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A Reform council leader has been accused of “deliberately” encouraging vigilantism among anti-migrant activists with his plans to publish a list of Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs) in the area.

George Finch, who is leader of both Warwickshire County Council and Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council, announced at a council meeting last night that he plans to publish a list of HMOs across Nuneaton and Bedworth borough. 

Finch has said that he wants to create an HMO register for “transparency” reasons.

He said: “The public have asked for transparency, they don’t know who lives in these HMOs and it is right that we tell them the facts.”

The 20-year-old councillor added: “We don’t know who these people are who commit atrocious crimes.”

The Reform council leader’s decision comes after an asylum seeker living in an HMO in Nuneaton was found guilty of and jailed for raping a 12-year-old girl last year.

Green Party councillor Keith Kondakor said that HMOs in Nuneaton and Bedworth house asylum seekers, vulnerable women, disabled children, as well as professionals who live in housing that happens to be classified as an HMO. 

The Reform-run council pledged to introduce an Article 4 direction, which would make it more difficult to set up HMOs in the borough. In the meantime, Finch has said he wants to make a list of HMOs publicly available.

Kondakor told Left Foot Forward: “There’ll be a list of maybe 200 addresses produced, all of which will then be at risk of vigilante attacks and misinformation.”

Kondakor said that after the rape conviction, the police had to drive around HMOs making sure anti-migrant protesters weren’t gathering outside.

“It was a major distraction of police time and all the people in the accommodation felt unsafe,” he said. 

The Green councillor called Finch’s plan to publish a list of the HMOs “worrying” and “absolutely reckless”, adding “it won’t do our town any good at all”.

Asked if Finch is encouraging people to go to the addresses, Kondakor said he thinks he is.

“I think he’s doing it deliberately,” he said. 

“He wants other people to do the dirty work. It’s like when we had the protest and things, he always keeps that bit of distance from anything illegal, but actually, he’s putting the petrol on the fire effectively. He does it all the time,” Kondakor added.

Labour councillor Brady Hughes called Finch’s plan “dangerous,” branding it a “populist policy to appeal to Reform voters and incite hatred”.

“It’s going to create vigilantism,” she added.

Hughes said: “They’re [Reform] deliberately trying to link these with asylum seekers, of which there are not many in this town, and my fear it is just going to create more division.”

Finch has said the list of HMOs will be published as soon as next week. 

Hughes said that Reform “can’t do it, not without a risk assessment by council officers, not without input from police”.

She added: “I think it is quite worrying that they’re trying to force officers’ hands into publishing the list.”

The Labour councillor said Finch keeps bringing up the case of the rape of the 12-year-old, “He’s got to stop using that because he keeps bringing it up and he forgets who the victim is in all of this”. 

Hughes added: “It’s wrong and he’s not a nice person to be quite frank.”

Labour and Green Party councillors in Nuneaton and Bedworth support tightening up HMO licensing and looking at bringing in an Article 4 directive, but strongly oppose publishing any addresses.

Hughes said that two Conservative councillors who attended the meeting were in favour of Finch’s plan.

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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An investigation by Channel 4 News has cast into doubt far-right agitator Tommy Robinson’s repeated claims he has been completely debanked in the UK.

The documentary also found that Robinson held a fundraiser in aid of grooming gang survivor “Kate”, but failed to pass the proceeds on to her. 

Journalist Matt Shea demonstrated during the documentary that he successfully transferred £1 into an active Metro Bank account held under Robinson’s real name, Stephen Lennon.

Robinson has previously used the claim no British bank will allow him to have an account to justify collecting cash donations in buckets at a rally in Trafalgar Square in 2024.

When he was stopped by police on his way out of the country the next day and found with £13,000 in his car, he said it was because he had been debanked.

Robinson stated it was a basic personal account rather than a standard current account, maintaining that his supporters’ donations are not paid into his personal accounts.

The far-right anti-Islam and migrant campaigner has also been accused of pocketing the proceeds of a fundraiser for a grooming gang survivor. 

Kate, a Telford grooming gang survivor, said she didn’t receive any money from the fundraising campaigns in her name. 

She also accused Robinson of filming a suicidal phone call without her consent and airing it in a documentary using her real name despite promises of anonymity.

In response, Robinson denied using her crisis to make money or broadcasting the footage against her will, stating he recorded the call due to an imminent risk to her life and that Kate was content with the film prior to its release.

He added that four other survivors received financial support, but that he was unable to contact Kate.

The Dispatches investigation also found that questions had been raised about money raised for Peter Lynch, a 61-year-old who participated in the 2024 anti-immigration riots and took his own life in jail.

Robinson launched a fundraiser and said he would “pay for everything” for Lynch’s family after he died. However, he never passed the money on. 

Robinson said Lynch’s family declined the money, leading to the funds being allocated to support his own children instead.

Reacting to the findings of the investigation, barrister and former head of public prosecutions, Sir Max Hill KC, said Robinson could face a criminal probe for “fraud”. 

Hill also said Robinson could face an investigation into whether he lied under oath in a June 2022 High Court hearing, after he failed to pay £100,000 in libel damages to Syrian schoolboy Jamal Hijazi. 

Robinson said he couldn’t pay Hijazi as he didn’t have the money.

He said at the time: “I’ve not got any money. I’m bankrupt. I’ve struggled hugely with my own issues these last 12 months… I ain’t got it.”

Campaign group Hope Not Hate has now launched a petition calling on HMRC to investigate Robinson.

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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Reform MP Robert Jenrick has now said that the Reform member who attacked a woman with a crutch at Reform conference last week “should be given a medal”.

In an interview with LBC on Monday, Jenrick justified the Reform supporter attacking the woman and said he had “zero sympathy” for her. 

Speaking to TalkTV’s Peter Cardwell yesterday afternoon, a viewer asked Jenrick to apologise to the young female Climate Resistance protester who was hit over the head with a crutch by a pensioner at the conference.

The viewer also asked if the pensioner had had his Reform membership suspended.

Jenrick said: “I’m not going to apologise.”

He said it was “an occupational hazard if you’re a professional protester who goes into conferences, tries to disrupt the speech of the leader”.

Jenrick added: “Remember this is a leader whose life has been threatened in recent times. This was a speech that had been delayed because counter-terrorism police…”

The protesters did not threaten violence against Farage or attempt to attack him. However, the police has confirmed it is now investigating incidents in which five protesters were attacked by Reform conference attendees.

West Midlands Police has also said that counter terrorism police had no involvement in Reform conference and did not tell Reform to delay Farage’s speech due to a threat.

Cardwell said: “Did that person deserve to get walloped over the face with a crutch? Is that reasonable?”.

Jenrick responded: “Peter, Peter come on. A professional protester is moaning that an old age pensioner knocked her with a crutch. I mean come on. Honestly I just think it’s completely and utterly ridiculous.”

The TalkTV presenter added: “It wasn’t just that. They had their hair pulled. Have you not a smidgeon of sympathy Robert… none whatsoever?”.

Jenrick said: “I don’t have any sympathy for her, no. In fact I’m sorry for the OAP who’s had his picture plastered all over the papers, he should be given a medal for what he’s done.”

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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Several former Reform UK councillors have spoken out to Sky News about chaos, bitter infighting and allegations of harassment and bullying at Durham County Council.

This comes after a Byline Times investigation last month that shed light on the goings on at the council, including claims that Reform councillors drank wine at an afternoon meeting and that the council leader Andrew Husband made a jibe about mental health. 

The group of ex-councillors, who now sit as independents, described Reform’s running of the council as “disappointing”, “shambolic” and “a bit of a s*** show”.

As part of its investigation, Sky News spoke to a dozen people within the Reform-run council.

Reform won 65 out of 98 seats on Durham County Council in May 2025, but has lost 13 councillors since then. 

One ex-Reform councillor, Kate Rowland, described the leadership’s behaviour as “narcissistic”, stating: “It’s very much a case of our way or the highway and if you’re not doing what we say, you’re out.”

Rowland added: “If somebody attacks one of them, they become like dogs and attack back.”

Ex-Reform councillor Nick Brown, who stood to run the council but didn’t win, said he thinks “the vast majority” of residents will say “‘actually things have got worse’” under Reform.

Brown said of Reform’s leadership: “The council’s more aloof now, and our elected representatives are just not listening to us.”

Ian Catchpole, the most recent councillor to resign from Reform, described Husband’s leadership as “autocratic”, adding “they don’t like challenge”.

Another former Reform councillor, Andrew Harrison, described the culture at the council as “toxic” and said he believed there are more Reform councillors on the brink of quitting.

He said: “Everyone is looking over their shoulder, people are afraid to speak out.”

Kenny Hope, an army veteran who has complex PTSD, said he was unhappy about a comment Husband made about mental health being “woke”. 

Husband claims that he said “Virtue Signalling about mental health in such a way is woke”. Hope and Rowland said he said mental health itself is “woke”. 

Catchpole said Husband’s comments about mental health were “massively disrespectful”, and that the leadership were “laughing, they were joking, they were chatting, they were on their phones”.

Hope said he wrote to the national party in April, asking them to address these “cultural and procedural issues”. However, he said he never received a reply.

Hope resigned from Reform in May, after being suspended pending an investigation. 

In a post on Facebook, Reform deputy leader Richard Tice dismissed the investigation, accusing Sky News and journalist Cathy Newman of “lies”. 

Photo credit: Sky News

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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