Birmingham Reform accuses city leaders and Tories of 'shutting out' party from important roles

The leader of Reform in Birmingham has accused the city council’s leadership of ‘shutting out’ the party from vital roles.

Earlier in the summer, the Reform group argued the new coalition running the council had prevented them being offered chairing roles of any of the authority’s important scrutiny committees.

These roles, which are in place to hold the ruling group and council officers to account, went to Conservative councillors instead.

The coalition leadership – which includes the Liberal Democrats, Greens and various independents – took control of the authority following May’s local elections.

The elections also saw Reform emerge as the largest political group on the council – but they were unable to form an administration, saying that ‘other groups had made clear they do not want to work with us’.

Against this backdrop, Reform says it put forward an amendment that would have “ended the Conservatives’ monopoly on scrutiny committee chairmanships”.

The group said they wanted to see the positions distributed “proportionately among opposition groups”.

But Reform says they have been ‘shut out’ for a second time after this amendment was defeated at a recent meeting.

“The people of Birmingham voted for change,” Reform UK Birmingham group leader Cllr Jex Parkin said afterwards. “They elected a council made up of several substantial political groups, with Reform UK emerging as the largest.

“Instead, the Conservatives struck a deal with the new administration that handed them all seven scrutiny chairmanships, leaving Reform UK – the largest group on the council – completely excluded. That simply doesn’t reflect how Birmingham voted.”

He continued: “We proposed a straightforward solution. Reserve scrutiny chairs for opposition groups and share them proportionately, so that every qualifying group receives its fair share.

“We weren’t demanding all seven chairs. We weren’t even asking for a majority. We were proposing a fair system that would still have given the Conservatives their proper share.

“This isn’t about individual councillors. It’s about the fairness and credibility of the scrutiny system itself.

“When three political groups share responsibility for running Birmingham, it is more important than ever that scrutiny is independent, effective and representative.”

But Cllr Robert Alden, Conservative group leader, hit out at Reform’s approach to scrutiny at other councils run by the party, including the “press being banned” at one of them.

“What’s clear is Reform would rather […] waste time on this at every meeting instead of holding the administration to account,” he continued. “That’s the kind of scrutiny Reform want to have, not discussing what the administration is doing.

“Also we should stress all the Reform councillors have been very actively invited to take part in scrutiny. No-one is preventing them from getting involved in scrutiny.”

Cllr Alden and Green Party Cllr Raheem Humphreys went on to say that Reform had previously put forward former councillor Alan Feeney for an important planning role.

This was weeks before “offensive and completely unacceptable” comments made by Mr Feeney came to light in an ITV News investigation, which led to his resignation.

“[We need to ensure] that when the people of Birmingham vote, we can protect our residents from having scrutiny, planning, licensing chairs be taken by members with such awful views,” Cllr Humphreys said.

Mr Feeney, who defected from the Conservative Party to Reform last year, previously said there was “no excuse” for comments he made after he was recorded describing an area as “infested” with Asian families.

He offered his “sincere and unreserved apologies”, continuing: “The comments do not reflect my true beliefs or opinions, particularly of the communities mentioned in the report.

“These are communities I have supported countless times in my personal and professional life over many years, many of whom I have been lucky enough to call friends.

“My true self is reflected in over a decade of public service on multiple local authorities, charities trusts and committees.”

He acknowledged the “hurt and anger” caused and added: “I will be undertaking intensive personal analysis to understand how these sentiments could have taken root and ensure they can never do so again.”

A Reform spokesman told the BBC: “Where members, activists and councillors have clearly behaved inappropriately, investigations have commenced.”

The spokesman added that the party had improved its procedures but some individuals who did not share their values would occasionally make it through vetting.