Month: May 2026

Farage could face recall petition and byelection over £5m gift from crypto king

Posted on | by Just some bloke | Leave a Comment on Farage could face recall petition and byelection over £5m gift from crypto king
Newspaper with the headline: Farage could face recall petition and byelection over £5m gift from crypto king

This one is from The Observer:

Farage could face byelection over crypto king’s £5m donation

The Reform leader faces two possible investigations over the undeclared gift from Christopher Harborne. A lengthy Commons suspension could lead to a recall petition – and end up costing him his Clacton seat

Nigel Farage’s victory celebrations could be over before his newly minted councillors have even taken up their positions, as pressure builds over his undeclared £5m donation from Christopher Harborne.

Last week, the Guardian revealed that Reform’s leader had received a seven-figure sum from the Thailand-based crypto billionaire just weeks before announcing he would stand in the 2024 general election – reversing a decision he had made shortly before.

Farage could face byelection over crypto king’s £5m donation, The Observer

How many councillors has Reform UK lost since the May 2026 elections?

Posted on | by Just Say No | 1 Comment on How many councillors has Reform UK lost since the May 2026 elections?

Given how popular (and lengthy!) my list of Reform councillor departures after the May 2025 elections turned out to be, here is a new list, this time for councillors elected under the Reform banner on 7 May 2026, or in by-elections after that date, who have already departed the party for one reason or another.

How many councillors has Reform UK lost since the May 2026 elections?

Broken promises, rising taxes: Inside Reform UK’s first year in power

Posted on | by Just Say No | Leave a Comment on Broken promises, rising taxes: Inside Reform UK’s first year in power

Reform has run councils for a year. As local elections near, we ask: how has the party performed in power?

Broken promises, broken roads, and broken council leadership teams – that’s the outcome of Reform UK’s first year in power, an investigation by openDemocracy reveals.

[…] Reform raised taxes in every council where it holds or shares power. Potholes continue to cause accidents and damage, and councillors’ struggles over where to make promised savings have put much-loved local services at risk of closure.

Broken promises, rising taxes: Inside Reform UK’s first year in power, Sian Norris, Open Democracy

Reform-led Lancashire county council could quit refugee resettlement scheme

Posted on | by True Thinker | Leave a Comment on Reform-led Lancashire county council could quit refugee resettlement scheme

Councillor announces plan to withdraw from government-funded programme on eve of local elections

The Reform-led Lancashire county council will withdraw from the government’s refugee resettlement scheme, one of its cabinet members has said.

Joshua Roberts announced plans for Lancashire to leave the scheme, which would make it the first local authority to do so. It would mean Lancashire would no longer participate in the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS) and the Afghan Resettlement Programme (ARP).

The authority coordinates participation in these schemes on behalf of 14 unitary and district councils in Lancashire that have responsibilities for housing.

Reform-led Lancashire county council could quit refugee resettlement scheme, The Guardian

Reform’s ‘spiteful’ immigration stunt backfires spectacularly

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“A serious democracy does not punish voters for voting a certain way. That is called tyranny.”

Reform UK’s latest immigration policy – widely condemned as vindictive and divisive – has triggered a fierce backlash across the political spectrum, including from one of the party’s own former MPs.

The proposal, unveiled ahead of local elections, would see migrant detention centres deliberately placed in areas that vote for the Green Party, while sparing constituencies that back Reform. The policy forms part of a broader plan to detain and deport tens of thousands of people each year, with new facilities holding up to 24,000 migrants at any one time.

Reform’s ‘spiteful’ immigration stunt backfires spectacularly, The London Economic

James O’Brien questions tabloid silence on Farage’s £5m gift

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“Sometimes you look at a story’s coverage and you wonder whether you are actually part of something truly hideous.”

James O’Brien has expressed his bafflement at the tabloid coverage – or rather, the lack of it – that Nigel Farage’s undeclared £5m gift has received.

Last week, the Guardian revealed that Farage had been given £5m from by British cryptocurrency investor Christopher Harborne, who is based in Thailand and has since donated millions to Reform UK.

James O’Brien questions tabloid silence on Farage’s £5m gift, London Economic

MPs demand Reform suspend candidate over claims he celebrated rape of Sikh women

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West Midlands Labour MPs write to borough Reform leader after alleged posts by Stuart Prior

Labour MPs have called for a Reform UK election candidate in Essex to be suspended after he allegedly celebrated the rape of two Sikh women in the Midlands.

MPs demand Reform suspend candidate over claims he celebrated rape of Sikh women, The Guardian

Revealed: Reform’s £24 Million from Fossil Fuel Interests

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Nigel Farage’s anti-climate party has received two thirds of its income from oil investors.

Reform UK has received £24 million from oil and gas interests, accounting for more than two thirds of its total income, DeSmog can reveal.

Led by Nigel Farage, the party is calling for new North Sea oil and gas drilling ahead of UK-wide elections in May on the ill-founded claim that it will cut energy bills.

DeSmog’s analysis reveals that 67 percent of Reform’s funding to date has come from donors with financial interests in fossil fuels, totalling more than £24 million.

Revealed: Reform’s £24 Million from Fossil Fuel Interests, Adam Barnett and Sam Bright, Desmog