By Jane Haynes

Copyright birminghammail

Reform is preparing to fight for every seat in the Birmingham and Black Country local elections in 2026, says its regional chief. West Midlands director Pete Durnell said that ‘incredible momentum is with Reform’ and it is seeking to translate grassroots support into votes at the ballot box next May – with Birmingham in its sights. It is currently completing the vetting of applicants for seats across the region and will be publishing its candidates’ lists soon, with every seat set to be contested, he said. READ MORE: Birmingham bin dispute warring sides ‘not speaking’ after six months of all-out strike The party’s pledges will include halting small boats and closing asylum hotels and hostels, scrapping climate net zero policies, cutting ‘waste’ in councils, reducing diversity and inclusion roles and demanding an end to HS2. Durnell spoke to BirminghamLive in the wake of the Reform UK party conference held at the NEC, when delegates from around the country gathered in buoyant mood off the back of deputy prime minister Angela Rayner’s resignation and strong polling. The right wing party’s leader Nigel Farage has emerged as the most popular political leader in the country, according to national polls, while regional polling by More In Common reveals that 33% of West Midlands voters ‘intend to vote Reform’, compared to 20% for Labour and 14% for Conservatives. Every one of the 101 seats in Birmingham are up for grabs next May. Another 123 seats will be elected across the six other councils that make up the West Midlands combined authority area. Durnell, the party’s first paid West Midlands regional director, said every seat available will be contested in Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley , Sandwell , Solihull , Walsall and Wolverhampton. He said at previous elections locally his party had been dogged by a lack of organisation and staff for the then fledgling party, but this time it would be different. There are now branches of Reform UK in every one of the 57 parliamentary seats across the entire West Midlands region, including ten in Birmingham , with a team of coordinators in place to spearhead the local election campaigns, he said. “We have achieved this from a standing start really, in just 12 months, which shows the incredible momentum the party now has,” said Mr Durnell. “We are a much more organised and professional outfit than in any previous election campaign.” In Birmingham, wards in Erdington and Northfield are likely to be primary aims after the party polled well there in the 2024 general election, taking 22.7% of the vote in Erdington and 21% in Northfield. The party has just snatched a seat on Walsall Council in a by-election, overturning a Conservative majority to take Pelsall. That was ‘just the start’, said Durnell. He denied that Reform would struggle to appeal to ethnic majority communities or people of colour, claiming it was ‘the only party that people can trust’. He said the party would be seeking to show it would represent people of all backgrounds and faiths. The party’s leaders have been accused of fuelling anti-migrant hate, dehumanising those seeking refuge and spreading fear about the supposed criminality of asylum seekers in hotels and living in the community, along with threats of mass deportations. But Durnell said: “Whatever their skin colour or background, residents are fed up with how they have been treated by the mainstream parties. They have endured 14 years of Tory rule, and now the Labour party has come in and made things worse. The Tories built it, but Labour have extended it.” He said threats by Reform politicians to ‘ban the burqa’, prevent more mosques opening and to deport thousands of families were not signs of the party’s racist intentions but said that the party would ‘always defend traditional British values’. He highlighted the role of party policy lead Zia Yusuf, who describes himself as a British Muslim patriot, as proof of the party’s inclusive approach. He also pointed to Reform’s gay chairman David Bull as further proof of the party’s inclusivity. Elaine Williams, Reform UK’s coordinator for the Black Country, said she was excited at the prospect of the elections ahead. From Walsall, she has stood in elections for Reform since it launched in 2021 to oppose national lockdowns over Covid . “When I first stood Reform was polling 2-3% of the vote. We have come a very long way since then,” she said. “I got involved because I realised I needed to speak up about all the things wrong. Reform stand for free speech, supporting small businesses, and controlling immigration, and I knew that was who I wanted to be part of.” Durnell said the party was seeking to put up local candidates in each of the available council wards in Birmingham, Sandwell, Solihull, Dudley, Walsall and Wolverhampton, and was currently engaged in a ‘ruthless’ vetting procedure. This included assessing the work history, CV and social media history of wannabe candidates and through interviews, which was a process taking several months. The aim was to ensure the party is not embarrassed by candidates who might have views that ‘do not align with the party’s values,’ said Mr Durnell. “We are at the end of the candidate-gathering stage, and are already ‘soft placing’ candidates based on where they are from and who they want to represent. We are not yet ready to make the big announcement on who is standing where, but we are not far away.” The party has announced it would halt the building of HS2 if it gained power nationally, and Mr Durnell said the party’s council candidates would be backing that position. “It is a gigantic waste of money,” he said of the HS2 line. The financial case for it had been undermined totally because it was now just a glorified direct service between London and Birmingham, he said. When pointed out the line’s infrastructure was now largely in place, with huge swathes of land upended, tunnels dug and bridges built, he said it was still not too late to pull the plug. The party has also previously lobbied to end the Birmingham Clean Air Zone and not spend money on climate zero initiatives. The party currently leads Warwickshire and has control in Staffordshire councils. It also now has four councillors in Solihull, after a defection by Conservative members, and now a member in each of Wolverhampton and Walsall councils.