By Gabriella Bedford, edited by Andrew Duffin
I am currently represented by a Reform UK county councillor, Reform UK town mayor, Reform UK county mayor, and my local MP is Reform UK’s Deputy Leader Richard Tice. And which part of Britain is so infatuated by the populist right? Boston, Lincolnshire, a town which shot to fame in political circles for being the strongest Brexit-voting area in the country in 2016 (75.6% voted Leave).
Consequently, I have a lot of experience in dealing with Reform in local government, and will now take you on a short journey through the councils Reform controls and the range of their policies which defy logic. Much to my sins, I have met my local MP. Before it became known to him that I support Labour, he invited me to Parliament to meet with him to discuss various issues in the local area. However, when I arrived, he failed to answer any of the questions I had put to him, instead complaining about how slow Parliament moves, that the government has a ticking time bomb with the cost of public sector pensions, then went on a lengthy rant about the structure of Singaporean pensions. Of course, complaining about the inefficient machinery of government is the preserve of any opposition politician, the true test is what happens when they do reach elected office and unfortunately, unproductive meetings are the least of the worries of Lincolnshire residents.
One of the first decisions Reform UK took after entering office was to abolish the specific committee responsible for managing flooding, even though 90% of homes in Boston and Skegness are at risk of flooding. Among their other wonderful decisions was to cut funding to dementia services. Reform argued that these funds were spent on duplicate services, but even Conservative councillors described the policy as ‘short-sighted’, especially as the number of people with dementia in the region is rising.
Furthermore, the Reform UK leader of Lincolnshire County Council shared confidential procurement documents with party chairman Zia Yusuf and claimed there was “no malicious intent” - not the highest bar to clear regarding multimillion pound contracts, especially for a party so hell-bent on cost-cutting. And as for the musical mayor Andrea Jenkyns, she has made few material policy announcements since taking office in 2023. Except, of course, increasing the budget for her personal office and the performative ban on flying any flag other than national ones.
Yet (shockingly) my totally teal area is not an isolated example of what happens when you give Reform a bit of power. In Kent, despite pledging to cut council tax in their manifesto, the newly-elected Reform UK council increased council tax by the highest amount permissible without a referendum. In Derbyshire, Reform UK have announced plans to close multiple care homes and adult education centres, despite these services already being close to capacity.
Through their ‘adventures’ in local government, Reform have found governing to be far harder than they anticipated. The extensive promised cuts failed to materialise once Reform realised how far-stretched council budgets already are. Meanwhile, their councillors resigned at an unprecedented rate, raising concerns over candidate componentness. As a result of this chaos, public services have suffered.
Reform UK have shown that they are not a party fit to govern. Shouting from the parapet about ‘efficiencies’ and ‘cost-cutting’ is one thing, but when there is nothing left to cut and creative, innovative solutions are needed to overcome the problems which afflict local government, Reform UK have fallen at the first hurdle. Local governments have shown that Reform UK have shirked from genuine responsibility. Moreso, interested in playing with politics and not facing problems head on.
Please note: the views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the wider Labour club.
Image Credit: BardofL, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons