Confusion was caused by the email used to create the booking
Reform UK has been left furious after a local village festival cancelled their booking for an exhibition stall at the “last minute”.
The Hamble Valley branch of the party expressed its disappointment after Locks Heath Rotary Club made the decision for the Warsash Festival, which took place on July 4.
The chair of the branch, Josh Read, said it was “hard not to see a political motive behind” the “last-minute decision”.
He continued to add that Reform had “attended a number of summer fetes and community events across the area” and “the reception from the public has always been positive”.
Locks Health Rotary Club said the decision was based on their long-held non-political stance.
Mr Read argued that the Conservative mayor, Councillor Tina Ellis, attended the event.
The Fareham Borough Council website states that the mayor attends events as the borough’s civic figurehead rather than as a representative of the Tories.
Mr Read continued: “Had the Mayor been from Reform UK, we would have fully respected the right of Conservative representatives to attend with a stand or pitch.
“Community events should treat everyone fairly, regardless of political affiliation.”
A spokesman for the club said the confusion stemmed from the original enquiry coming from a personal email rather than a Reform UK one.
They said that it was not made clear to the club that the pitch would be used by Reform UK.
Reform shared emails with the Local Democracy Reporting Service show that whilst Mr Read did use a personal email, under “company name,” he wrote “Reform UK Hamble Valley” on the booking form.
The spokesman confirmed that it was a non-political organisation and does not permit any political party to exhibit at its events.
They confirmed that they would have taken the same approach for any political party.
Once the club realised that the booking was for Reform UK, they decided to cancel and offer a full refund.
The news comes after a Reform UK council was caught in hot water after using AI generation to make it appear as though they had cleaned up a local area.
Reform UK has issued an apology following AI photograph that claimed to show the results of a community tidy-up in the Kent village of Sarre.
Party volunteers gathered last Friday to clean up a road sign and gate at the village boundary, located close to Margate.
The manipulated photograph depicted fencing of an impossibly brilliant white shade, whilst the neighbouring pavement appeared freshly laid, as if new tarmac had been applied.
