Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
A Reform UK councillor’s business has been handed a £40,000 fine after the company was found to have hired someone without the legal right to work in the UK.
Michael Andrew Harrison, who represents Seaham on Durham county council, is appealing the levy against his business Churchills Management Ltd, arguing that the employee — who is of Thai descent — did have the legal right to work.
But the penalty is the latest embarrassment for Reform at a time when Nigel Farage is trying to demonstrate that his start-up populist party can win power and lead the country.
Reform has led the polls of voters for most of this year, but with just five MPs there is scepticism about the party’s infrastructure and its ability to vet hundreds of suitable candidates for a general election campaign.
Harrison, who goes by Andrew Harrison, lists Churchills Management Ltd on his register of interests and is named as its sole director on Companies House.
Churchills was listed as a ‘liable party’ in a government list of civil penalties for those found to be employing illegal workers, published on November 28. The fine and the connection to the Reform councillor was first highlighted by @reformexposed, an account on social media platform X.
A person familiar with the matter said the company had employed an individual of Thai descent that it believed had the right to work in the UK.
The employee is married to a British citizen, the person said, and had been advised by lawyers they were allowed to continue working while they appealed the expiry of their leave to remain in the UK.
In a letter seen by the Financial Times from the North East Law Centre, lawyers advising on the person’s status suggests that leave to remain — and the right to work — can be extended under Section 3C of the Immigration Act of 1971.
The letter states that UK Visas and Immigration had confirmed they would consider a fee waiver for the individual in early October 2024, which can extend the right to work while their application was being considered. This was shortly before they began work at Churchills.
The penalty notice was issued in February this year.
Harrison is challenging the fine at Newcastle County Court, with the Home Office as the defendant. A spokesperson for Reform declined to comment.
The Home Office said: “Illegal working undermines honest employers, undercuts local wages and fuels organised immigration crime — the British public will not stand for it and neither will this government.”
Reform swept to victory in nine English councils last May and its performance in local government is now being treated as a test for its national ambitions, with close scrutiny of its councillors.
Last week, the party stripped Ian Cooper, the leader of Staffordshire county council, of his membership following an “urgent internal investigation” into the “non-disclosure of social media accounts” following claims of offensive messages.
Cooper was accused by the anti-racism campaign group Hope Not Hate of calling London’ mayor Sadiq Khan a “narcissistic Pakistani” in online posts. Cooper did not respond to a request for comment.