On the 1 of May electors in the Central region voted for enough Reform UK Ltd party candidates for them to win majorities on some county councils. At the time I wrote on some of the councillors who had been elected and why they seemed to be questionable choices. After six months in office I’ve reviewed how effectively they have delivered.
Reform chaos in Leicestershire County Council
Possibly the most prominent Reform county council (in terms of reported news) has been Leicestershire County Council. Back in June, I pointed out that they had appointed two very young councillors to key roles: Joseph Boam, 22, who was elected Deputy Leader of the Council, while Charles Pugsley, 19 was put in charge of the highly complex Children’s Services cabinet role.
Most of the news has been bad for Reform over the last six months. After many negative reports Boam was sacked as Deputy Leader in August. His leader, Dan Harrison, said he “wasn’t up to the job”. Reform’s finance lead, Helen Butler, stood down recently for family reasons. Reform were also accused of serving “a plate of chaos”. Another councillor caused some hilarity by claiming that low water levels in reservoirs were caused by mass immigration.
Having promised to reduce council tax, the council later said that they needed more money from government and subsequently went back on this promise saying that council tax would rise. They have also been criticised for hiring “expensive” external consultants “rather than using the free DOGE-style audit”, having promised it would be pro bono. They have now signed a contract with the consultant company Newton worth up to £30mn to make savings of £90mn in day-to-day expenses, another cost to taxpayers. Space precludes more detail, but the pattern of results has been division, departures, chaos and broken promises.
Debacles in Derbyshire
In Derbyshire County Council, according to the BBC, the new ruling Reform party started by decommissioning the climate change scrutiny committee; Reform’s new council leader told the BBC that “net zero ‘is not a priority'”. This committee was then incorporated into a wider ‘Place’ scrutiny committee. Derbyshire County Council responded to Central Bylines, saying that “the council is actively involved with biodiversity schemes, including publishing the first Nature Recovery Strategy for Derby and Derbyshire in September and creating Derbyshire’s Heartwood Community Forest and promoting grants for environmental projects.”
In addition, a Reform UK press release claims to have made savings of £6,000 in the first two weeks of their administration; according to Derbyshire Live, Green and Conservative Party Councillors questioned the calculations Reform UK share in their press release.
There have also been personnel changes. In July, after only seven weeks, Cllr Charlotte Gates, the cabinet support member for SEND and Education, stood down for personal reasons, while another resigned.
To add to the catalogue of misfortune, one councillor attracted criticism for suggesting that they deprioritise road repairs to encourage more rail travel. In August they were criticised by a local MPs for SEND failings and allegedly ignoring local families In October the Reform leader was accused of blocking key debates in the council proceedings. In summary, not an impressive record to date.
Nonsense in Nottinghamshire
October was not a good month for Reform in Nottinghamshire either. The newly elected majority Reform county council in Nottinghamshire started by cancelling all key council meetings in June.
Council Leader Mick Barton objected to negative press reporting and instructed councillors and council officers to boycott the newspaper Nottinghamshire Live. This embargo was challenged legally by the publication and had to be rescinded.
In early October Barton’s family company was threatened with compulsory strike-off over delayed financial filings. Barton was also criticised by six other councils for alleged misleading statements over plans to redraw boundaries. He was also accused by opposition members in his own council of holding secretive meetings about boundary changes that they should have also been privy to. Additionally, Reform have been criticised for spending £75,000 on flags and earmarking £500,000 to refurbish a building previously identified for disposal. In summary it’s been a chaotic few months with little evidence of the ‘reform’ that electors were promised.
Woe in Warwickshire
Only six weeks after assuming the role as leader of the Council, Councillor Rob Howard stood down and was replaced by 18-year-old George Finch. Finch has been regularly in the news since May for leading objections to a new children’s home. In August he risked contempt of court by commenting in public on a rape case. He also criticised plans for cycle lanes and then backed them anyway. Finch has also put forward plans to hire three political assistants for each of the majority parties (Reform, Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives) at an annual cost of £190,000. The Lib Dems, Labour and Greens were against the proposal. Hardly the cost savings that Reform consistently promised.
Staffing in Staffordshire
In Staffordshire County Council, a Reform councillor resigned only two weeks after being elected, causing a by-election. The Reform council leader Ian Cooper made his start by upsetting Pride month organisers over misleading comments about council funding. The arrival of Reform councillors also had an interesting impact on council employees, with the GMB reposting a rise in people joining unions in response.
Staffing has been a recurring theme at Staffordshire. In July, Reform proposed the creation of another new cabinet role at an annual cost of £14,000. While this is an additional cost, the role is for SEND, initially opposed by the Conservatives, and possibly the only positive achievement by Reform at the time of writing. While being accused by Conservative Councillor Philip White of leading a “do nothing administration”, Reform Councillors have also complained of not having enough time and proposed to spend up to £142,000 on political assistants.
Reform UK: the bigger picture
The common picture across the country seems to be that newly elected Reform councillors have been naïve in assuming that it would be easy to slash waste and make major savings. The reality appears to be that after years of penny-pinching, there is very little waste left and the much-vaunted DOGE initiative has turned out to be a damp squib. It’s worth mentioning also the levels of resignations and expulsions. They do seem to be a fractious bunch.
In my view, the early indications are that the recent crop of Reform councillors have made little positive difference. How, of course, the electorate reacts to this remains to be seen, but I am typing this the morning after the voters of Caerffili voted in a Plaid Cymru candidate instead of the predicted Reform candidate. Perhaps the penny is beginning to drop.
Ultimately, my personal verdict is that it’s Reform itself that most needs reform.
This article has been updated after a request by Derbyshire County Council for corrections.
