Reform UK equality plans 'worrying', Lib Dem says

Reform UK's suggestion it will cut local government spending in places it controls has been criticised by a council's Liberal Democrat leader.

Speaking on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Reform UK's chairman Zia Yusuf said his party would "cut waste" across all 10 councils where the party forms a majority and would target spending on diversity and inclusion initiatives.

But Cambridgeshire County Council leader Lucy Nethsingha told the BBC's Politics East there was "no fat to trim" in local authorities.

She said the council valued its diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) staff and she found Reform UK's "attack" on such positions "really worrying".

Cambridgeshire County Council is under the control of the Liberal Democrats after the party won 31 of the 61 seats in the local elections on Thursday.

Reform UK, which previously had no councillors represented on the authority, gained 10 seats.

Yusuf claimed places like Lincolnshire County Council, which Reform won control of from the Conservatives, spent "considerable money on DEI initiatives".

He said Reform UK would "send teams in, task forces" and that "we're now going to have access to the contracts and we're going to make these changes".

Nethsingha said: "It will be very interesting to see what happens now that they're running those councils.

"They've come in saying they're going to cut a lot of waste but having been leading Cambridgeshire County Council for the last four years, I know there is not a lot of waste.

"There is no fat to trim on local government."

She said retaining hard-working staff was key to running a council well.

"Their (Reform's) attack on DEI staff, I find really worrying," Nethsingha said.

"I know that our DEI staff spend a lot of time trying to keep good members of staff in work when they get disabilities, when they struggle with injuries – that's one of the things that those staff do – they keep our permanent staff in their jobs, doing well, and it's going to be fascinating to see what happens in these reform councils."

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