Green leader rules out Reform council coalition

The leader of the Green party in Birmingham has ruled out working with Reform UK, saying people overwhelmingly did not vote for Nigel Farage's party.

So far no party has announced a plan to form the city's ruling administration, after voters went to the polls in last Thursday's local elections.

Reform won 23 seats, but fell considerably short of the 51 seats needed to have full control, while the Greens came in second with 19 seats.

Green party group leader Julien Pritchard said Reform did not share the same values as his party and believed they were divisive, adding: "What did residents in the city want to see? Overwhelmingly they voted for parties other than Reform."

"It's the comments around immigration, and how they talk about these things, as much as the policies," he said.

"Lots of communities are worried and scared about Reform and some of the things they've said."

Reform leader Jex Parkin said the refusal of other parties to work them in a coalition was not in the interest of democracy.

"The further and further we've gone on, it's become increasingly clear that actually almost all the other parties have ruled out working with Reform full stop, which is disappointing to see."

He added: "It's somewhat frustrating but we kind of expect this."

Pritchard said during the election campaign the Greens had made clear their policies would not be compatible with Reform's.

The Green Party won the most overall votes in the election, he said, although that did not translate into more seats than Reform.

His party now has 19 seats on the authority, while Labour won 17 and the Conservatives won 16.

Lib Dems and independents make up the rest, with 12 and 14 respectively.

Talks about how a new administration might look were still "in progress" Pritchard said, and nothing had yet been finalised.

"I think the most important point is to get the best and right result for the city, and that's what we really are keen to do."

He said, if asked, he would serve as leader of the authority but added it was "what we do, rather than who's in what job" that was more important.

He said his priority for a new administration would be sorting out the bin strike, with road maintenance and public services such as libraries and youth centres high on the agenda.

He said he had spoken to Unite in the run-up to the election, and hoped to resume conversations with the union.

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