Reform UK councillor for Warwickshire reported to police over transphobia

A Reform UK councillor has been reported to the police over comments made in an email that Warwickshire Pride have described as “transphobic”. The complaint over Warwickshire county councillor, Wayne Briggs, follows a leaked email containing his objections to flying the Pride Flag outside the council's Shire Hall headquarters. A spokesperson for Warwickshire Police has confirmed record of the complaint and plans to gather further details.

The flying of a pride flag outside Shire Hall has been an ongoing point of contention in Warwickshire

Briggs who is the councillor overseeing the authority’s portfolio for children, families, education and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) described Pride and the LGBTQ+ community as a “dangerous ideology”. The email was sent to the council's chairman, Conservative councillor Dale Keeling, who has the final say on which flags can be flown outside the council building.

Briggs told the BBC that the comments were meant to be private but following the leaking of the email he refuses to apologise.

Briggs said: "I stand by the concerns I raised and will not be offering an apology. I believe there are serious and legitimate questions about political neutrality in council buildings and the importance of protecting children and maintaining parental confidence.

"However, I fully accept that if I were speaking publicly as a portfolio holder or issuing a formal statement on behalf of the council, I would use different language."

In the email, Briggs wrote: "I'm disappointed however that you seem to have bowed to concerted pressure from a coalition of left-wing councillors and agreed to their request to put the 'pride flag' up. Personally, I'm all for live and let live, but this movement has been hijacked by groomers and mentally ill men in dresses gyrating in front of children and pushing a delusion that you can somehow change from male to female and vice versa if you're unhappy with your own body. This is a dangerous ideology."

The councillor’s rhetoric, which Warwickshire Pride have called out for transphobia, echoes the historic rhetoric which was in common use against gay people during the HIV pandemic and Section 28, and is now increasingly used to target transgender people.

After receiving the leaked email, Warwickshire Pride took swift actions: submitting a code of conduct complaint to Warwickshire County Council, reporting Councillor Briggs to Warwickshire Police, and submitting a freedom of information request to Warwickshire County Council for all emails from Reform councillors that mention the pride flag, pride month, Warwickshire Pride, individual members of our team, and the words "trans", "transgender" and "gender ideology".

Organisers of Warwickshire Pride also call for Councillor Briggs to apologise and resign from his position, stating “He has demonstrated why he is unfit for the role he currently holds.”

A spokesperson for Warwickshire Pride added: “From a sitting councillor, this is completely unacceptable, a clear breach of the code of conduct and principles of public life, and a hate crime that must be dealt with.”

They conclude by adding: “We continue to stand with trans people and the wider LGBTQ+ population. We stand against people like Councillor Briggs, Councillor George Finch, Councillor Mike Bannister (currently under police investigation for LGBTQ+ hate crime), Reform's political assistant Jack Parker (also under police investigation), Reform generally, and anyone else who holds hateful views about the communities we serve.”