Nigel Farage has said Reform councillors are refusing to do training on climate change and diversity after the party’s local election surge saw it take control of 10 councils and win more than 600 seats. The Mail has the story.
Mr Farage declared that his troops would ignore instructions to get briefings “because we believe all people should be treated equally”.
The stance emerged as unions gear up to resist Reform’s vow of a DOGE-style cull of council staff engaged on DEI and Net Zero projects, as well as stopping people working from home.
Reform won control of 10 councils in England last week, picking up more than 600 seats across the local elections.
Mr Farage – who hailed the arrival of his new fifth MP at Parliament today (pictured) – has declared he is braced for some “very, very big fights, dismantling all the jobs around climate change that the councils have put into place”.
Taxpayer-funded legal bids to stop asylum seekers being housed in council areas have also been mooted.
However, the formal handover of power at the councils will not take place until later in the month. There are claims few council roles are specifically dedicated to DEI, although it is encompassed in other jobs.
Taking to social media this morning Mr Farage said: “Reform UK councillors are being instructed to take part in DEI and climate change training.
“Our new elected officials will do no such thing because we believe all people should be treated equally.”
Sources suggested Derbyshire was among the councils where the training was being pushed.
Mr Farage was previously among a small group of MPs who refused to undergo ‘behaviour’ training at the House of Commons.
One senior source acknowledged there will be a delay before changes are implemented at councils.
“It will take a little while but we are doing a ton of work to be read,” they told MailOnline. “We will do things very differently.”
A veteran council official said: “You can’t just sack unionised, contracted workers, without expecting potentially strikes, employment tribunals and resulting costly exit packages and compensation.”

Worth reading in full.
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You can’t sack… perhaps.
But, please explain if otherwise, you can change the priorities in their job descriptions or scrap one post and move the incumbent to a job with different goals.
No?
If the job is no longer required then they will be redundant. They can see if another post is available but if not they will be out the door with whatever redundancy payment is in their contract.
I love the comment from the official who says they’ll be strike action. DEI personnel are a waste of space doing a non job so who cares if they go on strike and withhold their pointless “labour”?
With respect, Matt, that’s not how it works. The unions will make a point of calling out members who are providing useful services in solidarity with the “useless mouths” who are to be made redundant.
Your point is fair,
However, I can’t see a scenario when council workers will forego their salary to save the jobs of the indoctrination brigade.
Union leaders may well support the “useless mouths” but how many ordinary council employees feel strongly enough about them that they’d be prepared to strike in solidarity?
Name one “useful” service.
Bring it on – Let battle commence.
Exactly the comment I was going to make!
Plucking off the filthy leaches picked up from years of wading through the swamp…
Good for them. We got asked to do “mandatory” sexual harassment training (whatever that is) but I didn’t bother and nobody minded.
That reminds me, I was supposed to attend that one a couple of weeks ago! Oh dear never mind what a pity I am so forgetful.
The idea that officials (or the outgoing councillors) should demand that new councillors undertake training is unacceptable.
The approach should be for staff, led by the £100,000+ management, to enquire of the new team what they need.
100%
Was that so you knew you were doing it correctly?
The boss man said it was bollocks. Not sure what he expected. Lots of people complained. My colleague used ChatGPT to generate the answers and it got two “wrong”.
Response: I already know how to sexually harass someone, but thanks very much
The Councillors theoretically run the Councils. If Reform as a party have control what they say goes. On this Nut Zero and DIE crap Farage is correct therefore if Council workers want to strike let them, I doubt most of us will notice their absence, bins maybe.
Reform needs to be prepared for some tough battles and take on those who think they can have their own way. A liberal serving of P45’s will soon bring matters back to order.
A long as they comply with Parliamentary law. But it could be interesting if they find it difficult to deal with the likes of the Borough Solicitor and their staff.
It’s just a test run, before the same (but bigger) battle in Westminster and Whitehall. 🙂
For the past 30 years a number of quangos have evolved which presume to decide policy. The LGA is among them as well as Common Purpose (to which many top officials go for “training” at tax payer expense).
There is a senior police officers’ association and many others. They have become used to deciding what the law means and whether they approve.
It is my belief that council officers act more on direction from quangos than councillors snd councillors do as officials tell them all too often.
There is a clear redundancy route when roles are abolished or materially reduced. There is no difficulty. It happens in the private sector all the time.
Perhaps Farage can withdraw the councils from the LGA which seems to work against the people.
If the Reform councillors choose not to do DEI training, the diversity of their opinions should be respected and welcomed by others, surely.
You can’t just sack them; but you can make their roles redundant and re-deploy. Or you can simply make them redundant.
The filthy communists who inhabit the majority of council jobs, will fight like hell to prevent any other political position from taking power. Reform must publicise all such attempts and name the staff who are doing it.
Britain is indeed a place where communist employment laws have made it very difficult to sack or discipline public sector staff. The communism is deeply entrenched.
What is it exactly that employees “learn” on climate change, and who is doing the teaching? Or is it I suspect, just learning about what government policy on this farce is rather than anything to do with facts or reason or things that are known to be true. Rather it will be a case of indoctrination, not learning.
Why not attend sessions and challenge every lie you are told?
One would have to know what one was talking about. How many of us know what the truth is? We only know we cannot trust anyone on these subjects.
One man did a while back, and was sacked for asking the wrong question in his training class about “White Privilege”.
He asked was there such a thing as “Black Privilege”.
Be interesting to see how the CEO, legal department and unions deal with this.
If you can’t sack council employees working on DEI persuasion and that job no longer exists other much more useful jobs could be given to them such as pothole repair and street cleaning.
Well, good.
Excellent! Its about time someone stood up against this nonsense!
Reform shouldn’t just target these two citadels of woke. They should audit and re-prioritise properly with public support and consultation. They should first of all find out how they can deliver statutory and regulated services more efficiently and democratically. Areas like education and social work could be delivered more efficiently by focusing on outputs rather than process. They should hand bin collection, parking even personal care and other such services to worker control with a remit for public value. They shouldn’t dodge the difficult questions but nor should they try and ape Doge.