Restore Britain Coventry – Local Manifesto

British Residents First. Accountability. Permanence.

Coventry has undergone profound change, and the people who call this city home have had far too little say in its direction.

Housing pressure. Rising temporary accommodation costs. Strained public services. Demographic transformation. Changing neighbourhoods. Millions spent by the council with too little public scrutiny.

These are not abstract national debates. Their consequences are being felt here in Coventry.

The Census records the White British share of Coventry’s population falling from 66.6% in 2011 to 55.3% in 2021. We believe changes of this scale deserve open political discussion, not silence.

Restore Britain Coventry exists to give residents that voice.

Our programme is straightforward: put British residents first, restore accountability, defend permanent communities and ensure Coventry is built for the people who call it home.

1. Control the Numbers

National immigration policy has direct consequences for Coventry.

Asylum dispersal, Home Office accommodation and the movement of people from national support into local services all create pressures that ultimately have to be managed here.

We will:

• Oppose further large-scale asylum dispersal into Coventry
• Campaign for the closure of asylum hotel and contingency accommodation in the city
• Demand regular publication of asylum, refugee and resettlement numbers and associated local costs
• Challenge attempts to transfer the cost of national immigration decisions onto Coventry taxpayers
• Support Restore Britain’s national programme to reverse mass immigration and remove those with no legal right to remain

A city cannot plan housing, infrastructure and public services properly without control over population pressures.

2. British Homes First

Social housing is finite. Temporary accommodation is expensive. Family homes are increasingly difficult to secure.

Residents therefore have every right to demand complete records, transparent rules and confidence that eligibility requirements are being enforced properly.

We will:

• Demand complete and auditable recording of relevant immigration, citizenship and eligibility information within housing records
• Press for greater transparency around housing allocations and temporary accommodation
• Campaign for British citizens and long-term settled residents to be prioritised wherever local and national law allows
• Publish independent analysis of housing data and challenge gaps where they exist
• Oppose development strategies that continually prioritise transient demand while permanent families struggle for suitable housing
• Support Restore Britain’s national proposals to put British citizens first in access to taxpayer-funded support

Coventry should be a city in which people build families, communities and permanent lives, not simply a transit point.

3. Protect Genuine Care

Adult social care, children’s services and specialist placements account for enormous amounts of public money.

Those who genuinely need care must be protected. But compassion does not remove the need for accountability.

Coventry residents deserve to know what is driving demand, where responsibility lies and whether national institutions are transferring costs onto the city.

We will:

• Protect high-quality care for elderly and disabled residents
• Investigate major overspends and high-cost placements
• Demand transparent reporting of the pressures driving social-care expenditure
• Challenge inappropriate cost-shifting from national government and other public bodies
• Scrutinise the impact of population and demographic change on long-term service demand
• Redirect savings from waste and poor procurement towards frontline services

Care is a precious and finite resource. It must be protected, properly funded and honestly managed.

4. Safe Streets. Strong Communities.

A successful city needs more than people living beside one another.

It requires common rules, shared expectations, integration and a sense that residents have a stake in the future of their neighbourhood.

Coventry’s demographic transformation makes that discussion more important, not less.

We will:

• Demand greater transparency around serious crime in Coventry
• Press public bodies to publish lawful and meaningful demographic information where it improves public understanding
• Support robust, intelligence-led policing
• Support the removal of foreign national offenders in line with Restore Britain’s national programme
• Oppose political or cultural double standards in the application of the law
• Defend integration, shared civic standards and British cultural identity
• Campaign for cleaner streets, safer parks and neighbourhoods residents are proud to call home

A strong community requires shared rules, shared responsibility and confidence that the law applies equally to everyone.

5. Stop Wasting Public Money

Every pound Coventry City Council spends belongs to the taxpayer.

Our investigations are already examining council contracts, procurement, overspends, temporary accommodation, council-owned companies and major spending decisions.

Residents deserve more than assurances that money has been spent.

They deserve to know what it achieved.

We will:

• Scrutinise major contracts, overspends and capital projects
• Demand measurable outcomes for significant expenditure
• Expose waste, weak procurement and poor value for money
• Challenge spending that delivers little visible benefit to residents
• Push for savings to be redirected towards housing, care, safer streets and essential local services

If public money is being spent, somebody should be able to explain what Coventry received in return.

6. Back Coventry’s Shops, Cafés and Pubs

Independent shops, cafés, pubs and family businesses create jobs, keep money in Coventry and give our communities their character.

Restore Britain’s national programme will tackle the taxes, energy costs and regulations harming small businesses and hospitality. In Coventry, we will use the council’s powers to support responsible local businesses and bring life back to our streets.

We will:

• Support Restore Britain’s national plan to cut the burden of business rates, hospitality VAT, alcohol duty and energy costs
• Bring persistently empty shops back into use, including using High Street Rental Auction powers where appropriate
• Make council advice on rates, grants, planning and licensing easier to access
• Give responsible cafés and pubs simpler licensing and greater certainty over pavement seating
• Help communities protect valued pubs and venues from unnecessary closure or redevelopment
• Make suitable council contracts easier for Coventry’s smaller businesses to compete for

Coventry’s recovery should be measured by thriving streets, successful local businesses and more local money supporting local jobs.

Read Restore Britain’s national policy on protecting the British pub.

How We Will Work

We will base our campaigns on evidence.

That means Freedom of Information requests, council records, official statistics, public spending data and evidence brought to us by Coventry residents.

We will publish what we find.

We will challenge incomplete answers.

We will follow the evidence.

And we will turn investigations into organised political campaigns where change is needed.

Restore Britain Coventry supports Restore Britain’s national programme while focusing relentlessly on the consequences of national and local decisions here in our own city.

We will speak openly about immigration.

We will speak openly about demographic transformation.

We will speak openly about housing, crime, public spending and the future of our communities.

These subjects are too important to Coventry’s future to be placed beyond political debate.

Join Us

If you believe Coventry should put its residents first, protect permanent communities, spend taxpayers’ money properly and give local people a genuine say over the future of their city, join us.

Help us investigate.
Help us campaign.
Help us build.

Coventry@restorebritain.org.uk

Restore Coventry. Restore Britain.