Pride event funding should 'not rely on cash-strapped councils', Reform councillor claims

GB News

Reform UK Councillor Ian Cooper has been defended by fellow Reform councillor Harrison Allman-Varty after refusing to pay for a Pride parade in his constituency's celebration this summer.The Staffordshire County Council leader argued that they are "not going to spend taxpayers' money" funding the second annual parade, scheduled for August.FULL STORY HERE.

Transcript

00:00Good morning. Let's start with you, Harrison. Is this going to be the theme for reform councils

00:07looking at ways of cutting back on things like Pride Parade that are not seen as essential

00:12council services? Do you know, I don't think it's the fact that it's a Pride Parade. I think

00:18personally, I think many people will be in favour of any sort of celebration. It's just the case of

00:22how it's funded. And I think in which the climate in which so many councils and probably all councils

00:27are in, we're all strapped for cash. And I think most people will be asking, okay, what is the main

00:32priority of this council? And the main priority is to make sure that funds are going to essential

00:37services. So I think that is the first priority of any local association. So I think personally,

00:44it's not really about having that celebration, whether we're cancelling or not. As we've seen,

00:49there are very, very corporate companies that love talking about and sponsoring Pride. I don't think

00:54it'd be that hard personally to find those fundamentals where I don't know why the reliance

00:59has to be an already strapped for cash councils who need to try and deliver their primary service,

01:03which is delivering services for, you know, for those who live there.

01:08Okay, it's not a primary responsibility, Lewis, that we're being told there. What do you think?

01:15Look, I think that the council should be funding Pride, not the whole thing, but at least putting

01:19money towards it. I think in this particular instance as well, I mean, let's not forget that

01:24a lot of the stuff they're talking about, you know, funding from local businesses, that is already

01:28being done. And as anyone that's ever been involved in a Pride parade will tell you, most people are

01:34working for free. It's all run by volunteers. So a little bit of seed money from the council will go

01:39a very long way for that. Look, I think this is about the principle of the thing. And it's interesting

01:43this comes from reform, because actually, I think the fact that we have Pride parades is about the best of

01:48British. There are still 64 countries in the world where it's illegal to be gay, 12 of which

01:52where you can face the death penalty for it. The fact that we as the UK say we don't do that. And

01:57actually, you needn't fear walking the streets because of who you love here. We actually put on

02:01a parade and celebrate it. That's great. But Lewis, don't you think it's become increasingly political

02:06over recent years? Because it isn't just about civil rights for gay people. There has been the trans

02:12movement that's been deeply involved with this now. And that's very, very controversial. A lot of people,

02:16me included, completely disagree with the idea that men can become women. And why should a council

02:21fund such a political statement as that? Listen, if we want to get into some of the rights and wrongs

02:26of what's happened over the last few years, we'll need a podcast to do that. But in this debate,

02:30which is about the principle of should councils be funding it, I will say this as well. Prides bring

02:37money to local areas. Is it about an investment? So yes, you might spend a little bit of money, but people

02:42come and they have to pay for parking, they have to pay for food, they have to pay for a hotel to

02:46stay in. That brings a lot of money to a local area. So it's not about, oh, they're taking out of the

02:51pot and then we've got no money back. Actually, it's an investment. And in this particular instance,

02:55what we're talking about, Stafford Pride, they've saved £1,700 by saying they're not funding Pride.

03:02That's not massive amounts of money. That's not anything. You're not going to get any bins

03:05collected on £1,700. It's political theatre. They want to say, oh, we've got our Doge.

03:11We're anti-woke. We got rid of our Pride. Yeah. You saved £1,700. I challenge you to do some

03:17actual work. I'm just on that. I say, like I said, in my opinion, it's not about cancelling Pride.

03:22I think, look, having any sort of celebration in this country, regardless, is a good thing.

03:27I think, look, having any sort of celebration in this country, because I'm going to get

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