We understand the following motion is being put to Bournville branch Labour Party in Birmingham.

Motion: No Political Accommodation with Reform UK

We note that:

Following the 2026 Birmingham City Council elections, no political group secured an overall majority on the Council.

At the Annual Meeting of Birmingham City Council, the Birmingham Labour Group instructed Labour councillors, through the application of the Group Whip, to vote in favour of Reform UK councillors being appointed as Chair of the Planning Committee, Chair of the Finance and Governance Committee and to serve on the Council’s Employment Committee. (weblink)

Those Reform UK candidates were ultimately not appointed because councillors from the other political groups voted against them.

Reform UK espouses policies and rhetoric fundamentally at odds with the Labour Party’s values of equality, anti-racism, internationalism, trade unionism and social justice.

Councillor Diane Donaldson subsequently resigned from the Birmingham Labour Group in protest at the decision to whip Labour councillors to vote for Reform UK candidates for positions of responsibility. (weblink)

We believe that:

Labour should never whip its elected representatives to vote Reform UK councillors into positions of authority or responsibility, regardless of whether those appointments are ultimately successful.

The decision by the Birmingham Labour Group to require Labour councillors to support Reform UK candidates for senior Council positions was fundamentally incompatible with Labour’s values, has caused widespread concern amongst Party members and risks legitimising Reform UK.

Labour’s response to the rise of Reform UK should be to defeat it politically by offering a principled and compelling alternative, not by facilitating or appearing to facilitate its access to positions of responsibility.

We resolve to:

Write to the Leader of the Birmingham Labour Group expressing this Branch’s opposition to the decision to whip Labour councillors to support Reform UK candidates for positions of responsibility and requesting that no such instruction be issued in future.

Write to the Chair of the National Executive Committee requesting that the NEC adopt and issue clear guidance confirming that Labour Groups should not whip Labour representatives to vote for Reform UK candidates for positions of authority or responsibility.

Submit this motion to the next CLP meeting and write to all Birmingham Labour Party Branches enclosing the motion and encouraging them to submit similar motions to their own Branch and CLP meetings.