Subscriptions
Subscriptions
Read our Monthly Magazine
And support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system
Opposition councillors at Reform UK’s flagship Kent County Council (KCC) staged a mass walkout on Thursday, after Nigel Farage’s party tabled a motion declaring an “illegal immigration emergency” whilst blaming migrants for the spread of “infectious diseases” — a move condemned as racist and divisive amid a deadly meningitis outbreak in the county.
The motion claimed there was an “invasion” of refugees coming to Kent, and using rhetoric of “fighting age” men. “Most of the men are leaving their women and children in their home countries,” the motion claimed. The motion also railed against “foreigners” committing crimes.
Amid a lethal meningitis outbreak that has taken the lives of multiple young people in Canterbury, Reform councillors claimed that “a number of infectious diseases are believed to be on the increase, potentially due to having been carried by migrants,” without providing evidence.
The Green party argued that the motion – which passed by 45 votes to nil, following the walkout – was an improper attempt to garner votes ahead of a council by-election Reform is defending in a couple of weeks.
ENJOYING THIS ARTICLE? HELP US TO PRODUCE MORE
Receive the monthly Byline Times newspaper and help to support fearless, independent journalism that breaks stories, shapes the agenda and holds power to account.
We’re not funded by a billionaire oligarch or an offshore hedge-fund. We rely on our readers to fund our journalism. If you like what we do, please subscribe.
The by-election was brought due to a Reform UK councillor being convicted in Margate this February for admitting coercive or controlling behaviour towards his wife.
Reform’s critics argued that the motion — publicised by the party before it had been formally approved or appeared on the agenda — breached strict ‘purdah’ rules against using council resources to further a political agenda during the sensitive election period.
The council’s chairman, Richard Palmer, who chaired the debate, had himself proposed a very similar motion at Swale Borough Council weeks earlier, leading to accusations of bias.
When the Leader of the Opposition, Lib Dem Anthony Hook, attempted to criticise the motion’s content, Cllr Palmer ordered him to stop speaking and then to leave.
More than 30 councillors – including the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives, Restore Britain, and Greens – walked out in protest.
Opposition members also expressed their anger at the timing of the motion, given an ongoing meningitis outbreak in Canterbury that had claimed young lives.
KCC leader Linden Kemkaran posted on X before the vote: “Illegal small boat crossings are not a distant problem for Kent. As Leader of Reform in KCC, I refuse to sit back and do nothing. The people of Kent deserve councillors who will stand up to government on their behalf and speak truth to power.”
Don’t miss a story
We spoke to Green councillor Stuart Heaver after he left the chamber.
Byline Times: Why did you walk out? Talk us through what happened.
Cllr Heaver: “In the afternoon session, we were about to begin [discussing] the motions, and number one on the agenda was Reform UK’s motion to declare an illegal immigration emergency.
“The content of this motion is really quite toxic — clearly racist, divisive, and unpleasant. It contains the usual false statistics, inflammatory language treating the crossing of a border as a crime, and implications of misogyny. It’s disgusting.
“But on top of that…there is a by-election currently under way for a KCC seat in Cliftonville. The previous member for that ward was accused in court of coercive and violent behaviour towards his wife…and is now serving a prison sentence, which triggered the by-election.
“Reform had already publicised this immigration motion — through a major media campaign — before it had even been checked by officers, discussed in the council, or appeared on the agenda.
The Elections Watchdog Doesn’t Know Where Reform UK’s Crypto Donations Are Coming From
The UK’s electoral watchdog tells Byline Times it wants tough new legal powers to prevent overseas donors from secretly bankrolling British political parties
“This was clearly a political stunt, which you might say is fair enough in itself. But during the debate, the chairman refused to allow any opposition member to make critical remarks, on the grounds that doing so would prejudice the by-election — even though the motion had already been blatantly politicised before we arrived.
[Chairman and Reform councillor] Richard Palmer has more or less unlimited powers to determine who speaks, who doesn’t, and for how long. He is, in effect, the independent adjudicator of proceedings.
“The problem is that he himself proposed a virtually identical illegal migration emergency motion at Swale Borough Council just weeks or months earlier…
“So here he was, chairing a debate on an identical motion to one he’d personally tabled elsewhere.
“He shut down any opposition speaker who tried to criticise the motion, while allowing the council leader, Reform UK’s Linden Kemkaran, free rein to extol the virtues of her administration. It was a circus. I’ve never seen anything so clumsily and so obviously orchestrated…
“The Leader of the Opposition, Lib Dem Anthony Hook, stood up to make remarks about the unpleasant content of the motion. He was told to stop by the chairman. He refused and announced he was leaving.
“At that point, everybody spontaneously decided enough was enough — it wasn’t democracy, it was a farce. So everyone got up and left…For some reason, the two Labour members remained — you’d have to ask them why [Labour’s Brady spoke briefly against the motion]. But everybody else walked out.
Reform UK Skip Mandatory By-Election Debate After Nigel Farage Called Defectors Who Avoid the Ballot Box ‘Disgraceful’
Nigel Farage previously said that defectors who refuse to hold by-elections are “disgraceful” and guilty of a “complete insult” to the electorate
Why did the Conservatives and Restore councillors walk out if they’d be sympathetic to the motion’s content?
“Presumably they were less offended than the rest of us by the toxic language — you’d have to ask them — but they were completely furious about the double standard on purdah.
“The administration was issuing press releases about the motion, but opposition councillors weren’t permitted to ask questions or criticise it in the chamber. That’s having it both ways, and they knew it.”
Could Reform actually get into trouble for breaching purdah?
“Potentially, yes. Electoral Commission rules are serious legal territory. We questioned the monitoring officer’s [decision] about it. Some very experienced senior councillors — people who’ve been around far longer than I have — said they’ve never seen anything like it. They were completely outraged. Reform could have got themselves into very, very deep water.”
What’s the context of the Cliftonville by-election?
“It’s shaping up as a straight runoff between Reform and the Greens. Election Day is Thursday the 9th of April. Reform are looking to hold the seat left by Daniel Taylor, who has been sent to prison. The Greens have a very strong candidate in Rob Yates — activists from across the county came down last Saturday to campaign for him.”
Labour described the immigration motion as a distraction from the meningitis outbreak in Canterbury. What do you think?
“Absolutely, and I’d go further. Two of the young people who died were from the Canterbury area. I have connections to some of those affected. There are young people in intensive care, in induced comas.
“This is a moment that calls for communities to come together, not to be divided. We’ve also got a war on, and people are facing the prospect of serious inflation — there is real anxiety out there about what’s happening in the wider world.
“To put this petty bigotry in front of Kent residents at a time like this is absolutely tone-deaf and insensitive in the extreme.
“How can you be so determined to push your ideological agenda that you completely ignore something as obvious and as devastating as that, happening in your own patch? It beggars belief.”
Got a story? Get in touch in confidence on josiah@bylinetimes.com
holding farage to account #reformUNCOVERED
While most the rest of the media seems to happy to give the handful of Reform MPs undue prominence, Byline Times is committed to tracking the activities of Nigel Farage’s party when actually in power
Contribute to our #ReformUncovered crowdfunder
Subscribers Get More from JOSIAH
Josiah Mortimer also writes the On the Ground column, exclusive to the print edition of Byline Times.
So for more from him…
