Film-maker challenges Reform’s record outside party’s rally in Wolverhampton

Reform UK’s Wolverhampton rally was targeted by members of the international Avaaz campaign group, which promotes global activism on issues such as climate change, human rights, animal rights.

The party had chosen the city’s Grand Station banqueting hall to launch its pledge to offer £1 billion in tax relief to new businesses creating jobs in the Black Country and surrounding areas.

But Avaaz, which is described as a ‘left-leaning, global activist movement’, sent film-maker Adam Brichto dressed in a Union Jack suit to speak to party supporters ahead of Thursday’s event, challenging them about the party’s record in local government, and the behaviour of a number of members exposed in ITV’s recent documentary, A Year in Reform.

An Avaaz spokeswoman said: “Reform UK has come to Wolverhampton promising to ‘save Britain.’ But its record in the councils it runs tells a very different story: elderly care home residents forced from their homes, nurseries facing closure, and staggering council tax rises.

“With dozens of councillors lost and others caught up in racism and sexual misconduct controversies, Reform can’t even get its own house in order - let alone fix Britain. Wolverhampton and the West Midlands deserve better.”

Inside the hall, Reform’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf accused the media of carrying out a ‘witch hunt’ against the party.

“They come after us with everything they have got, endless undercover documentaries, endless witch hunts,” he said. “Where is the undercover investigation into the gravy train of Tory donors who miraculously end up in the House of Lords? Where is the undercover sting against the multi-million pound donations made by eco-zealots to the Labour Party, who then go on to receive a huge government contract form this Labour government?

“No, the only organisation in this country that them mainstream media wants to investigate is Reform.”