Reform Leaders Won’t Be Giving ‘A Single Penny’ to Durham Pride in 2026

National World - LocalTV

Reform leaders have cut council funding for Count Durham’s Pride Event.  Darren Grimes, Durham County Council’s deputy leader, criticised the annual celebration and said the local authority will divert funding to key services instead.

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00:00Durham County Council's newly elected Reform UK administration has announced it'll

00:05withhold funding for next year's Pride celebrations, shifting focus instead to core

00:10services like waste collection and road repairs. Deputy Leader Darren Grimes defended the move,

00:16calling previous support tokenism and asserting that council taxpayers shouldn't underwrite

00:22political activism. This year's Pride event, which was held in the city centre in Durham,

00:28saw thousands celebrating the region's LGBTQ plus community, including members of the British Armed

00:35Forces. The council had provided up to £10,000 in funding, part of an effort to boost the area's

00:42cultural offerings after its failed bid for city of culture status. Now with reforms signalling a

00:49full withdrawal of funding in 2026, organisers are stepping up support from elsewhere. Durham Pride

00:56is partnering with the Durham Miners Association and the Trades Union Congress to raise funds and

01:01keep the event alive. A fundraiser at Durham Miners Hall, including a panel featuring Mike Jackson,

01:09founder of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, is scheduled later in the year. Notably, Reform removed

01:16the Pride flag from County Hall just days before the event, a move critics condemned as mean-spirited

01:22and disrespectful. Reform responded that the removal aligned with its anti-tokenism stance,

01:29insisting only national and county flags would fly. Their approach, characterised by symbolic acts and

01:35budget cuts in areas like diversity and climate rules, has raised alarm among critics over the erosion

01:42of inclusion efforts.

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