Support Our Mission
Read Our Latest Edition
BYLINE TIMES IMPACT: Find out about the changes you made happen
Unions have launched a campaign to defend the “freedom of libraries and librarians” from anti-LGBT+ political interference following a spate of clampdowns by Reform-run councils.
In recent months, Reform councillors in the Midlands counties of Staffordshire and Warwickshire have sought to reduce the visibility of LGBTQ+ books and other materials in local libraries.
In Staffordshire, library staff have reportedly been instructed not to celebrate Pride and to remove Pride-related displays, events and communications. A spokesperson for the council told this outlet a decision to “review and refocus the use of discretionary library display space” was made by the Reform Cabinet member for culture.
“Whilst the review takes place, all displays that do not promote the core library offer or wider council services have been paused or removed. This has included Pride displays but applies to all other discretionary displays too. No books or materials have been removed from library stock, and LGBTQ+ titles and resources remain available to borrow as part of the wider library offer,” the spokesperson said.
In Warwickshire, the Reform council leader has criticised librarians wearing LGBT+ Pride rainbow lanyards, and displays of books he claims promote “gender ideology”. He indicated that new policies for libraries and other public spaces are being developed.
It comes as a new report from the Trades Union Congress (TUC), ‘LGBT+ Workers – threats to workplace equality and community inclusion’, sets out the scale of political hostility to LGBT+ events on Reform-run councils – despite continued public support for diversity and LGBT+ rights.
Receive the monthly Byline Times newspaper and help to support fearless, independent journalism that breaks stories, shapes the agenda and holds power to account.
SUBSCRIBE TODAY
We’re not funded by a billionaire oligarch or an offshore hedge-fund. We rely on our readers to fund our journalism. If you like what we do, please subscribe.
It finds strong public support for maintaining key workplace rights and equality protections. YouGov polling for the report, exclusively seen by Byline Times, suggests 77% of Brits support retaining provisions in the Employment Rights Act 2025 requiring employers to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment and introducing protections from third-party harassment, while 74% support retaining the Equality Act 2010 which enshrines LGBT+ rights in law.
“Support for these protections exceeded support for repeal across the wider public, including among Reform voters,” the TUC analysis notes.
In February 2026, Reform’s Deputy Leader and business spokesperson Richard Tice announced plans for a ‘Great Repeal Act’. If passed, t would repeal “key legislation that provides workers with fundamental protections,” the TUC says, including the Employment Rights Act 2025 and the Equality Act 2010.
The union body states: “If Reform were to enact their ‘Great Repeal Act’ it would remove a range of employment rights, including sick pay, bereavement leave, pregnancy protections and protections against discrimination at work. They could also allow the return of fire-and-rehire practices.
“These are not simply regulations; they are hard-won rights that help make work fairer, more secure and more equal.”
SIGN UP TO EMAIL UPDATES
Reform has pledged to introduce a “Women and Motherhood Protection Act” to replace some lost rights, but the details so far are sparse.
The majority of LGBT+ respondents (around 300) to the YouGov poll believed that repealing the Equality Act and Human Rights Act would negatively affect LGBT+ workers and lead to “increases in discrimination, bullying, harassment and exclusion at work, alongside wider impacts on mental health, confidence, physical health and work performance.”
The report notes that Reform-run councils such as Durham and Warwickshire were …