Council leader 'will not take diversity training'
The new leader of Lincolnshire County Council says he will not take part in diversity training in his new role.
Speaking on BBC Politics North, Reform UK's Sean Matthews also said he was not interested in climate change and that his priorities were to save money and "cut out the waste".
Earlier in the week, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage posted on social media that all people should be treated equally and any UK Reform councillor instructed to take part in diversity or climate change training would "do no such thing".
The Green Party's Natalie Bennett said diversity training was a good use of taxpayers' money and said "to be that dismissive is really, deeply disturbing".
Matthews was announced as the county council's new leader on Thursday after Reform took control from the Conservative Party in the elections on 1 May.
"I've not been asked to do any diversity training, which is a good start," he said.
"I think that the staff here may have an inkling as to what sort of response they would get from me. So that's not happening, as far as I'm concerned, unless it's hidden in the undergrowth somewhere.
"And as far as climate change is concerned.. I'm not interested."
Echoing comments made last week by the county's new mayor Dame Andrea Jenkyns, he said that diversity officers are called "different things" and said "we've got to get a grip of that".
Presenter Tim Iredale asked Bennett if she thought diversity training was a good use of taxpayers' money.
She said: "Absolutely, because I think that we have long-term historical prejudices, long-term historical discrimination.
"Fixing that is not just the right thing to do morally, it's the thing that ensures that we have the best possible council services, that we are able to engage everyone in our community and that the council services meet the needs of everybody in that community.
"We surely should want to ensure that everyone in our community can flourish, can have the best opportunities to participate and to be that dismissive is really, deeply disturbing."
Now the opposition on the council, the Conservative group leader, councillor Richard Davies, said: "Lincolnshire County Council is a well run, prudently financially managed authority, delivering really important services.
"This is not a political football to be kicked around.
"[Reform UK have] made a lot of commitments around borrowing, about council tax, about improving services, that we will hold them to account to deliver."
Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
Jenkyns: fracking would save money for taxpayers
Reform UK picks ex-police officer to lead council
Tory group leader steps down after 20 years
Lincolnshire County Council
Politics North (Yorkshire and Lincolnshire)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
BBC bosses draw up plans to win over Reform UK voters
BBC bosses have drawn up plans to win over Reform UK voters, according to editorial meeting minutes. Minutes from a meeting of the broadcaster's editorial guidelines and standards committee from March show that BBC News CEO Deborah Turness gave a presentation in which she discussed plans to alter "story selection" and "other types of output, such as drama" to win the trust of Reform voters. The minutes, which were reported by The Byline Times, also show the committee identified "the importance of local BBC teams" to their plan to win over supporters of Nigel Farage. There is reportedly a belief that the corporation's news and drama output is creating "low trust issues" with Farage backers. The minutes states: "The CEO, News and Current Affairs provided the Committee with a presentation on plans to address low trust issues with Reform voters. READ MORE: "The committee discussed the presentation. Committee members recognised the importance of local BBC teams in the plan, given their closeness to audiences. "Directors discussed how story selection and other types of output, such as drama, also had a role to play. An update on progress would return to a future meeting." The committee includes former GB News executive Robbie Gibb, who is also a former director of communications at Number 10 and an outspoken Brexiteer. Gibb was appointed to the board by former Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 2021. He was identified by former BBC Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis in 2022 as an 'active agent of the Conservative party'. Farage has repeatedly used his own GB News platform to attack the BBC, calling it a 'political actor' and threatening to boycott the corporation. In language also used by the BBC Editorial Committee, the Reform leader suggested that BBC editors were using 'story selection' in order to target his party. In an incident last year, Farage refused to appear on the BBC until the broadcaster apologised for allowing members of the public to ask him questions during a special episode of Question Time. READ MORE: Byline Times said BBC staffers it spoke to are concerned about the plan to win over Reform voters, due to the risk of increasing allegations of bias. The BBC has previously been criticised by some viewers for heavily featuring Reform UK politicians on its programmes, despite the party only having a handful of MPs. In July last year, sociology professor Tom Mills – author of The BBC: The Myth of a Public Service – claimed the BBC were giving such a platform to Farage because they are such a big part of a 'political establishment which has drifted to the right'. 'I think the simple answer to why they [the BBC] like Nigel Farage is they are much more comfortable with an anti-establishment figure on the right than the left. It's as simple as that," he said. 'He's on their political spectrum and the political spectrum for the BBC runs from the centrists out to Nigel Farage. 'They still see those guys [like Farage] as being rogue figures of the establishment, but they are just given legitimacy by the fact that there's lots of voices they [the BBC] see to be legitimate in these media organisations which speak from a similar sort of perspective.' The BBC has been approached for comment.
Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
NATO chief Rutte calls for 400% increase in the alliance's air and missile defense
LONDON — NATO members need to increase their air and missile defenses by 400% to counter the threat from Russia, the head of the military alliance plans to say on Monday. Secretary-General Mark Rutte will say during a visit to London that NATO must take a 'quantum leap in our collective defense' to face growing instability and threats, according to extracts released by NATO before Rutte's speech.
Associated Press
an hour ago
- Associated Press
NATO chief Rutte calls for 400% increase in the alliance's air and missile defense
LONDON (AP) — NATO members need to increase their air and missile defenses by 400% to counter the threat from Russia, the head of the military alliance plans to say on Monday. Secretary-General Mark Rutte will say during a visit to London that NATO must take a 'quantum leap in our collective defense' to face growing instability and threats, according to extracts released by NATO before Rutte's speech. Rutte is due to meet U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer at 10 Downing St. ahead of a NATO summit in the Netherlands where the 32-nation alliance is likely to commit to a big hike in military spending. Like other NATO members, the U.K. has been reassessing its defense spending since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Starmer has pledged to increase British defense spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product by 2027 and to 3% by 2034. Rutte has proposed a target of 3.5% of economic output on military spending and another 1.5% on 'defense-related expenditure' such as roads, bridges, airfields and sea ports. He said last week he is confident the alliance will agree to the target at its summit in The Hague on June 24-25. At the moment, 22 of the 32 member countries meet or exceed NATO's current 2% target. The new target would meet a demand by President Donald Trump that member states spend 5% of gross domestic product on defense. Trump has long questioned the value of NATO and complained that the U.S. provides security to European countries that don't contribute enough. Rutte plans to say in a speech at the Chatham House think tank in London that NATO needs thousands more armored vehicles and millions more artillery shells, as well as a 400% increase in air and missile defense. 'We see in Ukraine how Russia delivers terror from above, so we will strengthen the shield that protects our skies,' he plans to say. 'Wishful thinking will not keep us safe. We cannot dream away the danger. Hope is not a strategy. So NATO has to become a stronger, fairer and more lethal alliance.' European NATO members, led by the U.K. and France, have scrambled to coordinate their defense posture as Trump transforms American foreign policy, seemingly sidelining Europe as he looks to end the war in Ukraine. Last week the U.K. government said it would build new nuclear-powered attack submarines, prepare its army to fight a war in Europe and become 'a battle-ready, armor-clad nation.' The plans represent the most sweeping changes to British defenses since the collapse of the Soviet Union more than three decades ago.
