100 days of Reform councils Never mind the flag bans, where are the policies?

This motion is bizarre to say the least," said a bemused Doncaster Labour councillor as Reform proposed that the council only fly the union flag from its buildings.

- Mark Brown North of England correspondent

It would not just mean no Pride flag on Pride Day, a debate heard. It would mean no white rose flag on Yorkshire Day, no Rovers flag celebrating the football club's winning the league, no St George's flag marking the Lionesses' Euros triumph, and no green flags celebrating the city's green spaces. The motion was "a waste of time and a waste of resources", one councillor said.

Meanwhile, at Nottinghamshire county council, climate change was being discussed. Bert Bingham is the Reform councillor responsible for environmental policy. He does not believe human-made climate change exists, saying it is a "hoax" and that declaring a climate emergency is "ridiculous and nonsensical". The media had brainwashed the public about the whole subject, he said.

In Kent, a Reform councillor boasted about ensuring the removal of "trans-ideological material and books" from the children's section of the county's libraries. It later emerged the books were never there.

In Durham, the Reform deputy council leader, a gay man, pledged that Durham Pride "won't get a single penny from this council next year". It received less than £10,000 from the council this year.

Welcome to the world of local government in England after the success of Nigel Farage's Reform party on 1 May. The party recently celebrated 100 days in power in local councils with an extensive press release trumpeting its work, including "rolling back the net zero agenda" and "flying patriotic flags". It boasted of Staffordshire county council's attempt to stop all solar, wind or battery farms, and Kent council cancelling climate-friendly property modifications, as well as decisions not to upgrade buses to electric vehicles and the scrapping of EV charging points.