Minority groups brace for surge in racism after Reform UK election gains

C onceding defeat at the election count at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena on Friday, the outgoing Labour leader of the city council, John Cotton, made a plea. “What I would encourage the next administration in this city to do, whatever form that administration takes, is that it ensures it champions the diversity of this city,” he said. Labour’s 14-year rule of the local authority had come to a crashing end, with Reform emerging as the largest party with 22 councillors so far, followed by the Greens on 19, albeit both parties a long way off the 51 needed for a majority. Labour lost more than 1,400 councillors across the local elections in England on Thursday and lost power in Wales for the first time. Nigel Farage described the election results, in which Labour also lost ground in Scotland, as a “truly historic shift in British politics”. Reform UK’s success has caused trepidation among many members of minority communities across the UK, with concerns there could now be a rise in hostile rhetoric. Mus, a member of Brummies United Against Racism , a group of neighbours in Birmingham who came together after a far-right group distributed leaflets to their doors, described the success of Reform as “really concerning”. “We are really disappointed. We’ve been campaigning to make sure our city is a safe space for our communities,” she said. …