Opposition councillors have criticised Bradford Reform UK Group’s proposals to withdraw the council from its Local Authority of Sanctuary status.

In a statement on Saturday, the group revealed its plans to present three motions at the Bradford Council meeting in October – one of which is to remove the ‘Local Authority of Sanctuary’ status.

It outlined that its proposals ‘may upset oversensitive political opponents but are firmly in the public interest’.

‘Since assuming ‘Local Authority of Sanctuary’ status, Bradford Council has been bound to provide additional support to migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.’

It adds that the group is suggesting the withdrawal due to the belief that ‘scarce resources should not be spent on non-statutory pledges, and that public services should instead be prioritised for Bradford residents’.

The group has outlined two further motions, including plans to support white working class children and the rollout of an Article 4 Direction across the district to limit local growth of Houses in Multiple Occupations (HMOs).

The Reform UK Group and Bradford Council Leader, Cllr Stephen Place, said: ‘Reform councillors were elected to do things differently and reverse the decline which our district experienced under Labour.

‘Our responsibility is to Bradford residents first, and that means prioritising public services for local people who live, work and raise their families here. It also means confronting serious issues which have been ignored for far too long, like encouragement of illegal immigration through generous taxpayer-funded provisions and unfair disadvantage felt by white working class children.’

However, opposition councillors have criticised the proposals, with the local Green Party group highlighting the negative implications of the move to ditch the status.

Cllr Hawarun Hussain, Deputy Green Group Leader, commented: ‘City of Sanctuary status has helped Bradford support people fleeing the worst horrors in the world, from Ukraine to the Rohingya, at a tiny fraction of the council's budget. Scrapping it would not fix a single service for a single resident.

‘If Reform claim to put Bradford residents first, they should look at who is really draining this country. It is not refugees. It is the foreign-based corporations and billionaires sapping us dry, the same billionaires bankrolling Reform with millions.’

Cllr Matt Edwards, Green Group Leader, added: ‘Cllr Place has repeatedly said he is not playing party politics and wants to work with other parties. That is hard to square with an announcement that goes out of its way to insult anyone who might disagree. Then again, perhaps by 'other parties' he just means the Conservatives, who have propped Reform up at almost every turn since May. On the big decisions, they are already working as one.’