According to an investigation by The Telegraph, Birmingham City Council spent taxpayers’ money on training which included material aimed at countering support for Reform UK and the political Right, including among working-class voters concerned about immigration.
The Council handed £13,450 to the Ella Baker School of Organising for its Defeating Narratives of Division programme.
The Telegraph also reports that the Ella Baker School was founded by former members of the Left-wing group Hope Not Hate, which was reported to the Electoral Commission in June over alleged campaigning for Labour in the Makerfield by-election.
The organisation is now advertising further training explicitly aimed at stopping Reform UK from forming a future government.
Birmingham City Council’s relationship with the organisation did not end with the original grant. Workshops continued to be advertised during 2026 as being delivered in partnership with the Council.
Cllr Graham Green, Reform UK’s Shadow Cabinet Member for Equalities, Communities and Social Justice, said:
“We need to know who approved this grant, exactly what the money paid for, whether Council officers received this training and why the relationship continued.
“Most importantly, Birmingham City Council needs to explain what political-impartiality checks were carried out before taxpayers’ money was handed over.
“If public money was used for party-political activity, the Council needs to recover it urgently and explain how it was ever allowed to happen.”
The Government has said councils are not permitted to use taxpayers’ money to fund partisan or party-political activity.
Cllr Jex Parkin, Leader of Reform UK on Birmingham City Council, said:
“It is outrageous that public money is being spent to campaign against a political party - and yet another example of how the establishment is prepared to play dirty against Reform UK.
“Whatever they throw at us, however dirty they want to get, Reform UK will keep fighting for Birmingham residents and arguing for what’s right.”