Zia Yusuf, chairman of Reform UK, has affirmed that the party will utilize all available tools to prevent migrants from being accommodated in areas under its council control.
Yusuf stated that the party would resort to legal avenues such as judicial reviews, injunctions, and leveraging planning laws to oppose the placement of asylum seekers in the regions of England where the party has influence.
Reform, led by Nigel Farage, gained more than 600 council seats and took control of 10 local authorities in Thursday’s local elections.
Additionally, the party added another Member of Parliament through the victory in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election. Moreover, Reform UK succeeded in securing mayoralties in Greater Lincolnshire and Hull and East Yorkshire.
Mr Yusuf set out Reform’s intent to shake up town halls following their success across the country, which Mr Farage branded a ‘Reform-quake’.
He pledged to introduce taskforces to audit spending in councils, as part of a promised crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Mr Yusuf also set his sights on taking over the House of Commons at the next general election, claiming his party were on course for ‘between 350 to 400 MPs’.
‘Nigel will be our prime minister,’ he said of Reform’s leader.
In the wake of his party’s local elections success, Mr Farage promised to ‘resist’ asylum seekers being housed in the counties where Reform was now in charge.
He claimed they are being ‘dumped into the north of England, getting everything for free’.
‘It is unfair, it is irresponsible, it is wrong in every way and I don’t believe (Sir Keir) Starmer has got the guts to deal with it,’ Mr Farage added.
But it is unclear whether Reform councils could block asylum seekers being housed in their council areas, as the system is managed by the Home Office.
Asked how his party would intervene in contracts drawn up between the Home Office and accommodation providers, Mr Yusug told the BBC: ‘Judicial reviews, injunctions, there’s planning laws.
‘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.’
Asked if Reform’s policy was to house migrants in tents, as the party’s newly elected Greater Lincolnshire mayor Dame Andrea Jenkyns suggested, Mr Yusuf said: ‘That’s what France does.’
He added: ‘We will be publishing a plan to deport everybody who is currently in this country illegally in our first term of government.
‘We will publish that plan in the coming weeks and you’ll see the full detail.’
Reform has pledged to sack council staff working on DEI and climate change, but Mr Yusuf was challenged about Lincolnshire County Council – where Dame Andrea has vowed to conduct a purge – not employing any.
He replied: ‘If you take Lincolnshire County Council, yes, they do not currently have somebody with the job title ‘DEI officer’. They do spend considerable money on DEI initiatives.
‘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.’
As Reform enjoyed huge success in the local elections, the Conservatives suffered one of the worst results in their history.
The Tories lost more than 600 councillors and all 15 of the councils they controlled going into Thursday’s contest.
Speaking later to Times Radio, Mr Yusuf said Reform had a ‘defections team’ for those Tories thinking of switching allegiances.
‘Anyone who has a genuine desire to come and join us at Reform, who shares our values and is coming for the right reasons, of course we’ll look at that,’ he said.
‘We think we will win between 350 to 400 MPs at the next election. That’s Reform MPs and Nigel will be our PM.
‘I think the vast, vast, vast majority of those will be from the grassroots authentic Reform MPs.
‘I think the highest officers of the land will be occupied not by former Tory cabinet ministers but by Reform people through and through.’
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch admitted Mr Farage had successfully tapped into the frustration of voters, but questioned whether Reform would now deliver for council residents.
She told the BBC: ‘He is expressing the feeling of frustration that a lot of people around the country are feeling, but he also doesn’t have a record in government like the two main parties do.
‘Now he is going to be running some councils – we’ll see how that goes – but he is expressing a feeling of frustration (and) that is not my job.’
Mrs Badenoch said her role is to come up with answers and solutions, adding of voters: ‘We understand why they were angry with us. We understand why they removed us from office.
‘They’re not going to come rushing back just because Labour was bad. They are looking at the two parties as parties that haven’t delivered.
‘I need to come up with a plan that will deliver. Easy announcements and easy slogans are not a plan.’
Labour’s Wes Streeting admitted Reform is a ‘real threat’ to the Government and is being treated as a ‘serious opposition force’ following their local elections success.
The Health Secretary told Sky News: ‘I think there’s clearly, on the right of British politics, a realignment taking place.
‘It’s not yet clear whether at the next general election it will be Reform or the Conservatives that are Labour’s main challenges, but we’ve got to take that threat seriously.
‘In that spirit, I think Reform does deserve more air time and scrutiny of their policies.’
He added: ‘I don’t know whether it will be Reform or the Conservatives that emerge as the main threat.
‘I don’t have a horse in that race, but like Alien Vs Predator, you don’t really want either one to win.
‘But one of them will emerge as the main challenger to Labour at the next general election.’
