"If that makes me a far right racist ..."

Kirklees Council Reform UK councillor’s “animals” social media post receives criticism and defence

A social media post attributed to a Reform UK councillor on Kirklees Council that described immigrants as “3rd world animals” has sparked outrage from critics and a defence from the party’s leader on the local authority.

In a joint statement posted to Facebook, Jade Botterill, MP for Ossett and Denby Dale, Paul Davies, MP for Colne Valley, Kim Leadbeater, MP for Spen Valley, and Harpreet Uppal – all from Labour – said that they were “deeply shocked and appalled” by the comments that are said to have been made by Tracy Clayton who represents Colne Valley West.

They also highlighted Clayton’s alleged shocking admission that if her comments made her “a far right racist” she “didn’t care”, describing them as “offensive, dehumanising and incompatible with holding office”.

In the post that has been referenced, Clayton is reported to have said: “I’m away in Greece, I go to Greece a lot, why because no invaders are here … (it is an invasion just like Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson said over 15 years ago) no one raiding shops, no gang rapes on the beach, no Sheria [sic] Courts, no man marrying a child!

“Just normal (not 3rd world animals) HOW I MISS THAT ABOUT MY HOME LAND. If that makes me a far right racist, well you know what I don’t care! My ancestors, Charlie and Daniel Clayton fought and died for this Country, if you come here and don’t like our flag DO ONE. I’m bored with your racism also!”

Sarah Wood, the leader of a minority administration on Kirklees Council, defended Clayton, stating that while it was language she wouldn’t necessarily have used (“may go further than I would”), her colleague nevertheless raised “an important point”.

“What's happening in Britain is an invasion,” Wood was quoted by The Independent as saying. “Many rational people see this.” At a subsequent council meeting, as reported by Yorkshire Live, Wood added: “We do have a state of national emergency at our borders.

“We do have people who are, in the true dictionary term of the meaning of the word, invading our country. And that they are bringing cultures from other areas of the world that are not aligned with British culture and that is what I meant by that.”

Kirklees Labour said that Clayton “should seriously consider whether she is in a fit position to represent the people of Colne Valley West as an elected representative”, while the independent councillor for Batley East, Akhtar Kasia, said that the council meeting had left him feeling “angry and deeply disappointed”.

“I went there expecting the leader and cabinet members to distance themselves from language used by cllr Tracy Clayton on social media describing immigrants as “third world animals”,” he said on Facebook.

“Instead, what followed was something I genuinely did not expect. Cabinet members chose to defend and justify the post, and the meeting eventually descended into shouting before being adjourned.”

At the time of writing, Clayton has not commented on the accusations.

Bradford Reform accuse Bradford Greens of being distracted by non-local issues

The Reform UK group on Bradford Council has accused the Bradford District Green Party of being distracted by international stories that have nothing to do with the district.

The minority administration said that a full council motion on Kashmir that was being brought by the Bradford Greens was akin to an “attempt to turn the Council chamber into the United Nations”.

“Under my leadership, the Reform UK Group and Bradford Council will always focus on local people first,” said Stephen Place, the leader of the local authority.

“Our administration is actively addressing many issues across the district, meanwhile Green councillors have forgotten local people in favour of foreign affairs – as we heard in Holmewood on Saturday.

“I am sure that their residents are not short of community-based causes which they would appreciate additional support with instead.”

Matt Edwards, leader of the Green Party group on Bradford Council, said in response that if the Reform UK group on Bradford Council wanted to focus on Bradford he was happy to set the record straight on the administration’s record since May 2026.

“Bins are not being collected, the local plan is late and the council has £50 million of savings to find,” he said. “So far, the only saving they have come up with is £700 over three years, by pulling out of city of sanctuary.”

Edwards then went on to say that when it came to Holmewood, the Greens had, “in the last few months alone” helped get the local post office reopened, pushed Yorkshire Water to deal with sewage leaks on Heysham Drive and helped residents with housing issues.

"Bradford is home to one of the largest Kashmiri communities outside the Indian subcontinent,” he went on to say. “Many people here are worried sick about their families. Standing up for them is standing up for Bradford.

"Reform and their Tory allies are once again showing they are not here to represent the whole district."

Clean Air Bradford rejects Tory councillor claim that CAZ isn’t working in Bradford

Clean Air Bradford has rejected a claim by a Conservative councillor on Bradford Council that the Clean Air Zone (CAZ) has improved health in the city and reduced pollution.

The movement, which is made up of a group of individuals and organisations who want to improve the air quality in Bradford, said that Bob Felstead’s motion, which is due to be discussed at a meeting of the full council on Wednesday 14 October, isn’t accurate.

Darren Parkinson, spokesperson for Clean Air Bradford, hit back arguing that the evidence said otherwise, with research by the NHS and universities finding, for instance, that Bradford's clean air plan had resulted in visits to GPs for respiratory conditions falling by 25% and heart problems by 24%.

“These are real improvements that matter to people's lives,” he noted. “The answer is not to scrap the CAZ and risk going backwards. We should be building on the progress we have made and making Bradford's air cleaner still.”

Simon Bowens, the Yorkshire campaign organiser for Friends of the Earth, added that the evidence was clear – CAZ is delivering “real benefits” for people living and working in Bradford.

“If we remove measures that are helping to reduce pollution, we risk losing the health gains we have already achieved,” he said. “Bradford councillors should be proud of a measure that is helping to protect children's health and should focus on making our air cleaner still, not taking us backwards.”

The motion put forward by Felstead, who is one of three councillors representing the Wharfedale ward, said that the Conservatives wanted to “challenge the reported conclusions that underpin the operation of the CAZ”, which were outlined in a report by the NHS and the University of Leeds.

These, he said in the motion, “were never provided to councillors” and that, as a result, the Conservative group on Bradford Council, wanted to “challenge the reported conclusions that underpin the operation of the CAZ”.

“Since the first mention of proposals to introduce a CAZ, which included charging for businesses operating commercial vehicles within parts [of] Bradford District, the Conservative group on the council has fought against it,” the motion outlined.

“Arguing that it was not necessary to include an economically damaging charging element, in order to achieve target pollution levels and that the Labour administration were likely to use it [to] build an empire that the council could ill afford if and when the charges were withdrawn.”

Drought status comes to Yorkshire in autumn

The Environment Agency has announced that Yorkshire has “officially entered” into drought status, after an extraordinarily warm and dry spring and summer.

This comes despite recent rainfall, Emma Hardy, the water minister, noted, which had not topped up “all the water that had been used” over the last few months.

“The Yorkshire drought declaration highlights the situation is still serious,” she said. The government is carefully monitoring the actions of all water companies and expects them to follow their drought plans, quickly fix leaks, and reduce demand.”

She concluded by stating that ensuring long-term resilience against climate change remained a “priority” for Andy Burnham’s Labour government.

“Our strengthened Water Bill will start a decade-long journey to a very different water system, including nine new major reservoirs to secure supplies,” Hardy concluded.

Responding to the announcement that Yorkshire had joined eastern, southern and central England in drought status – the north east and west remain categorised as “in prolonged dry weather” – Yorkshire Water said that it was not planning to restrict water usage.

This was despite reservoir stock being at 42.7%, which was done from the 52.9% figure of 2025.

"Through careful management of our water resources, extensive work to reduce leakage and the operation of our regional water network, we are not planning to introduce water restrictions for customers at this time,” said Andy Shaw, head of water production, treatment and energy at Yorkshire Water.

"Winter rainfall will be important in helping reservoir and groundwater levels recover, and we will continue to monitor conditions closely.”

Last month the Met Office announced that the summer of 2026 was “provisionally” the hottest on record, laying the blame entirely on global warming.

It said that the weather was made “around 130 times more likely due to human-induced climate change”, which has continued the trend of record-breaking recent temperatures as governments globally have continued to struggle to address the seriousness of this long-term trend.

“The summer of 2026 has been remarkable and is an example of the extremes we can expect to see more frequently as a consequence of human-induced climate change,” said Dr Mark McCarthy, head of climate attribution at the Met Office.

“In a climate unaffected by human emissions of greenhouse gases, a summer like this would be exceptionally unlikely, i.e. 1 in over 1,000 years. In our current climate, which is changing because of the effect of burning of fossil fuels, we should now expect this to be roughly a one-in-nine-year event."

Bradford Council to discuss “supporting white working class children motion”

A “supporting white working class children” motion is to be discussed at a full council meeting next week.

The motion, which was put forward by Reform UK’s Sally Birch, formerly a Conservative councillor, noted, in part, that the disadvantages experienced by this cohort need to be addressed “wherever it occurs”.

It also recommended that public services “should be responsive to the barriers these children face”, especially white working-class boys, who they cited as experiencing “significant educational disadvantage”.

Bradford Council said that it would contact Lucy Powell, the secretary of state for education, and Bridget Phillipson, the minister for women and equalities, to address “the needs of white working class children, particularly boys”.

The Reform-led minority administration said that it would also ask the acting strategic director of children’s services and staff “to assess the educational outcomes of white working class children… across the Bradford District, including school attendance and attainment, post-16 participation, apprenticeships and progression into skilled employment”.

According to the Independent Inquiry into White Working Class Educational Outcomes, which came out earlier this year, underachievement among this demographic reflected “a wider set of systemic challenges”.

These included what it describes as weaker relationships between families and schools, early gaps in educational development and fewer, clearer and credible routes into further education, training and work.

“Improving outcomes for white working class children and young people will require sustained national effort over many years,” the foreword to the report stated. “It needs us to face up to the scale of the challenge and to believe that change is possible.

“Responsibility cannot sit with schools alone. Government, employers, colleges, universities, trusts, community organisations, families and wider society all have a role to play.”

Local MP welcomes asylum hotel “closure” in Bradford

The Labour MP for Bradford West has welcomed what she describes as the closure of another asylum hotel in Bradford.

Naz Shah said Merchants House Hotel would stop housing asylum seekers by the end of 2026, as part of her party’s ongoing efforts to work through the asylum backlog.

“The government has committed to ending the use of expensive asylum hotels, while working to bring greater fairness, control and effectiveness to our asylum and immigration system,” Shah explained.

Net migration has fallen, and we must continue building an immigration system that is properly managed, with safe and legal routes at its heart.”

In August, the Home Office announced that the Dubrovnik Hotel in Bradford was one of 13 hotels that had ceased housing asylum seekers, which it estimated would save taxpayers around £51 million.

“This progress stands in stark contrast to the position inherited and the peak of 2023 when 400 asylum hotels were in use at a staggering cost of £9 million a day,” it stated at the time.

Speaking to the Guardian in February 2026 as she did the media rounds to promote her memoir, Honoured, she said that her constituents were “pissed with illegal immigration” and that it was a mistake to think that “people of migrant heritage or of colour” were not affected by it.

“But we need to do more telling of the positive migrant story; their contribution to the economy,” she went on to say. “If we didn’t have migrants, the NHS would collapse tomorrow.”

Town councillors remain unsure about the future of Ilkley Visitor Information Centre 

Ilkley Town Council has agreed to defer a decision on whether or not to approve funding amounting to £24,000 to help fund the Ilkley Visitor Information Centre by at least a month.

During the poorly attended full council meeting – something we’ve reported on before – councils once again debated the challenges associated with running the visitor centre as well as the genuine value it brings.

David Hesmondhalgh, the Green Party councillor for Ilkley North, reminded his colleagues that for the last two years the council had debated the future of the visitor centre without reaching a concrete decision.

“Now, what we agreed two years ago was to extend for another year – and, on the basis that we would put together a plan,” he said. “And then the same thing was agreed last year. I mean, it seems to me, with all due respect, what we have here is a plan to make a plan … [and] not a plan.”

Hesmondhalgh was referring to a report that the council’s working group had delivered, which hadn’t effectively delivered any definite solutions, as Jane Gibson, the Labour Party councillor Ben Rhydding, had acknowledged during the meeting.

“We're still very much in this investigative space, which is why I thinkPauline [Allon, the Liberal Democrat councillor for Ilkley South] is putting forward the proposal that we need to support the visitor information centre at least for another year, so that these thoughts can mature and that we can get somewhere further down the line.”

All 14 seats on Ilkley Town Council are up for election in May 2027.