Reform to hold vote on transgender prisoners at party conference

Reform UK members will table a motion at their party conference which is expected to call for transgender women to be excluded from men’s prisons, Sky News understands.

The motion is set to be held this Saturday during Reform’s party conference, taking place in Birmingham.

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It comes after Nigel Farage faced criticism for initially appearing to back Vanessa Frake, a former prison governor whom he hired as an adviser, when she said some transgender women could be housed in female jails.

At a news conference last month, Ms Frake said cases needed to be assessed “on an individual basis” and that those calling for a blanket ban “clearly have never set foot in a prison”.

The Reform UK leader originally appeared to echo Ms Frake, saying the issue was about “risk assessment” – before later saying he did not agree.

Asked if he agreed with his adviser’s position, he said: “I personally never worked in a prison, so I can’t answer that.

“But I think you’ll find that the answer that you’ll get from somebody who has worked in prisons at the highest possible level is, I think basically it’s about risk assessment.”

However, the next day, Mr Farage posted on social media that he had “never supported men in women’s prisons”, and reposted a video from April in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling that the definition of a woman is based on biological sex.

Mr Farage’s initial comments have been regarded as a blunder by Reform insiders, who welcomed the motion on Saturday as a chance to clarify the party’s position.

They also attracted criticism from Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who posted on X: “Just because huge swathes of the left have revealed themselves to be dripping in misogyny doesn’t mean a massive chunk of the right doesn’t remain exactly as indifferent to women’s rights and issues as it’s always been.”

What else is on Reform’s agenda?

Reform UK’s first conference will focus on the cost of living crisis, immigration and net zero.

In the wake of Mr Farage’s appearance at the House Judiciary Committee in Washington on Wednesday, and the arrest of comedian Graham Linehan at Heathrow on Monday for a series of anti-trans posts, it is also expected that freedom of speech will feature on the conference agenda.

Mr Farage raised Mr Linehan’s case to the committee on Capitol Hill, saying the arrest involving five police officers was “authoritarian”.

He added: “At what point did we become North Korea? Well, I think the Irish comedy writer found that out two days ago at Heathrow Airport.”

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He also referenced the jailing of former childminder and wife of a Conservative councillor Lucy Connolly for inciting racial hatred after the Southport murders last year. She has now been released.

“It doesn’t give me any great joy to be sitting in America and describing the really awful authoritarian situation that we have now sunk into,” Mr Farage added.

He described Ms Connolly’s post as “intemperate, it was wrong, but she removed it three and a half hours later.

“Sentenced to 31 months in prison. She’s now out, having served 40% of the time.

“I wanted to bring her with me today as living proof of what can go wrong.

“Sadly, the restrictions that have been put on her banned her from making the trip, which is a very, very great shame.”