Reform will use ‘every instrument’ to resist asylum hotels in areas it runs

Reform UK will use every lever available to stop asylum seekers from being housed in areas where it new controls councils, the party’s chairman has said.

Nigel Farage had vowed to “resist” asylum seekers being housed in the county council areas now under Reform control after his party took more than 600 seats and won control of 10 local authorities in Thursday’s polls.

Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf, when asked how this would be possible because contracts are drawn up between the Home Office and accommodation providers, said the party would use “every instrument of power available”.

“Judicial reviews, injunctions, there’s planning laws,” he told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme.

“You know, a lot of these hotels – there has been litigation around this already – a lot of these hotels, when you suddenly turn them into something else which is essentially a hostel that falls foul of any number of regulations, and that’s what our teams of lawyers are exploring at the moment.”

He said the party was “realistic” about the fact the levers of change at a local level “pale in comparison” to the powers of Westminster.

“That’s why this is part of a journey to making Nigel the prime minister with a Reform majority.”

Mr Yusuf said Reform would be publishing a plan to “deport everybody who is currently in this country illegally” if elected to national government.

Meanwhile, the new Reform Greater Lincolnshire mayor, Dame Andrea Jenkyns, doubled down on her suggestion that migrants could be housed in tents, saying the UK was “acting like bees to honey by putting people in hotels”.

“This is taxpayers’ money and it should actually be tents, not rent,” the former Tory minister told LBC.

Dame Andrea also said she wanted to cut up to 10% of Lincolnshire County Council’s staff.

Reform won 44 of the 70 seats on Lincolnshire County Council to take control from the Conservatives.

Dame Andrea’s mayoralty also covers the North Lincolnshire Council and North East Lincolnshire Council administrative areas.

She said she wanted to “root out the waste” at Lincolnshire County Council.

“I think, personally, (we) ought to look at maybe cutting the workforce by up to 10%. We’ve got to have a lean, mean local government.”

“That’s what I personally like to see, but again there’s variables there, because we haven’t elected a Reform county council leader yet, so there’s got to be discussions.”

Dame Andrea also said she was “up for a fight” with the unions, after the head of Unison urged staff at Reform-run councils to join them and secure union protection.

Mr Farage has warned council staff working on diversity or climate change initiatives to seek “alternative careers”.

Mr Yusuf said Reform UK would introduce taskforces to audit spending in the councils where it has won control and suggested the party would be digging into what council job roles involved in order to cut costs.

“If you take Lincolnshire County Council, yes, they do not currently have somebody with the job title ‘DEI officer’, (but) they do spend considerable money on DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) initiatives”, Mr Yusuf told the BBC.

“And they have other people who have basically that same job, but under a different title, partly in response to the fact that they’ve been inundated by think tanks and activists putting in FOIs (freedom of information requests).”

He said Reform would send “teams” into councils, adding: “We’ll be opening up application shortly. We want the brightest and the best.

“If you’ve got experience in audit, if you’ve got experience in fixing potholes, if you’re a software engineer.

“We’re going to bring taskforces in. We’re now going to have access to the contract, access to the numbers, access to payroll, and we’re going to make these changes.”