Reform to cut council's Pride funding, Grimes says

The first Durham Pride took place in 2014 and has grown in popularity over the years
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Reform leaders have cut council funding for an area's Pride event next year.
Darren Grimes, Durham County Council's deputy leader, criticised the annual celebration of the LGBT+ community and said the local authority would instead divert funding to key services.
Thousands of people attended this year's festival, held in Durham City across two days in May, which saw the council invest an annual £2,500 plus an additional £10,000 from money awarded to it as part of its ultimately unsuccessful City of Culture bid.
Durham Miners' Association (DMA) said Reform had underestimated the level of resolve among supporters of the event.
Grimes posted on social media platform X that Durham Pride "won't be getting a single penny from this council next year", arguing the event had "stopped being a celebration of gay rights a long time ago".
He said it had "morphed into a travelling billboard for gender ideology and political activism that many in the gay community - myself included - want no part of".
While adding the event "can and will go ahead safely", he wrote: "Durham County Council isn't an ATM for contested causes.
"Our residents deserve bins emptied, roads fixed, and services funded - not more council-sponsored politics in fancy dress."

Darren Grimes says money will instead be used to cover the cost of services such as bin collections
The council's corporate affairs department has contributed at least £2,500 a year to the event since 2016, apart from the 2020 event which was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic.
In 2025, its festivals team also gave £10,000.
This came from money awarded by the Arts Council via the National Lottery for the county's UK City of Culture bid and which will fund a three-year programme of events.
Individual county councillors have historically also supported the event financially through their own budgets, but it is understood that was not possible this year due to the timing of elections, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Grimes added: "If Labour or the Lib Dems want to raid their members' budgets to fund political street theatre, that's on them - Reform will spend ours on the services everyone relies on."
'Promoting division'
Durham Pride has teamed up with the DMA and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) to fundraise for future events.
DMA chairman Stephen Guy called for the trade union movement "to ramp up support for Durham Pride, which has been a target for closure since Reform was elected in County Durham".
He said: "Reform councillors across County Durham have underestimated the resolve of the LGBT+ community and the support of allies across the trade union movement."
Dave Pike, regional secretary for the TUC North East, Yorkshire & Humber, accused Reform of "promoting division" and said he was "proud to stand alongside the LGBT+ community in Durham, and the Miners' Association, for unity and for a society that respects people regardless of our differences".
A fundraising event will be held at Redhill's, Durham Miners' Hall, on 5 September.
Reform leaders sparked a backlash in May after taking down an LGBT+ Pride flag at Durham County Hall shortly after taking control of the council.
Correction 16 October: This article originally said the council had given £10,000 to the 2025 event and was subsequently corrected to say £12,500. It has been updated again to make clear that this came from two funding streams.
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