Reform’s new councillors are already letting people down

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Reform Watch is our new fortnightly newsletter exposing Reform UK’s rise, their tactics, and what’s coming next.

Every fortnight, you’ll get exclusive investigations, expert analysis, and the truth about what Farage and his party are doing behind closed doors.

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📋 How are Reform’s new councillors doing? They’re not even showing up.

Last month, one of Reform’s loudest supporters stuck his neck out for the party. The spin doctor Gawain Towler hoped that the hundreds of newly-elected councillors are doing a good job. Voters, he said, “expect them to be competent and just a bit better than the last lot… they expect them to try”.

So are Reform’s councillors trying?

The evidence is mounting that they aren’t just bad at their jobs — they haven’t even been showing up.

This week, two news stories landed about Reform councillors being absent. On the Isle of Wight, Councillor David Maclean has resigned after missing three meetings of the children’s services committee. And in Cornwall, Councillor Christine Parsonage — who lives 45 miles away from the Newquay Town Council she sits on — hasn't attended a single meeting since the May elections.

They aren’t the only ones who have been shirking. Most local authorities publish attendance records for their councillors, which HOPE not hate has been reading. It does not look good.

We have seen instances where Reform’s officials — even ones with major responsibilities — are not coming to meetings on important matters.

Rachel Reed, for instance, is a senior councillor for Reform in Doncaster. She missed a July meeting of the overview and scrutiny management committee that she chairs — the subject was the city giving a million pounds in a scheme to prevent youth crime. This is unfortunate timing: Reform is currently running a six-week “Summer of Crime” campaign to promote its law and order policies. Councillor Reed also missed a meeting of the regeneration and housing panel that she sits on — the agenda included making sure families have sufficient access to council housing.

Meanwhile at Staffordshire County Council, Councillor Craig Humphreyson — vice-chair of the pensions committee — has missed three of seven meetings since he was elected, including the audit and standards committee, which discussed how to avoid fraud and ensure council funds are properly spent.

We have even found examples where Reform councillors have missed more meetings than they have attended. In Staffordshire, a councillor called Michael Carver has only attended one meeting since the May elections. He has also missed both meetings of the health and care committee that he sits on. The June and July meetings that Carver did not attend discussed how to improve cardiac services and healthcare for pregnant women.

One Reform politician we identified — Councillor Dean Truder, representing Swanley in Kent — has yet to go to a single meeting. He sits on the planning applications committee, which at its last meeting in July discussed construction plans at a wastewater treatment site and a school sports pitch. Despite never having attended a council meeting (at least, according to the council’s own website) Truder has been entitled to pocket £2,623.69 of taxpayer-funded salary. “Reform UK will slash wasteful spending,” pledges the party’s manifesto. Perhaps it could listen to its own promises?

Of course, councillors tend to work other jobs and won’t always be able to come to every single meeting, and we have certainly seen evidence of absentee politicians from other parties. Reform, however, is trying to present itself as the party of getting things done and slashing council waste. It has even launched the Department of Local Government Efficiency to reduce bureaucracy. You can’t make efficiencies if you don’t even show up.

Zia Yusuf, a key figure in Reform and ex-chairman, told a newspaper this month that his party will provide “an embarrassment of talent”. How accurate he was.

🏊The water’s fine

Lord Jackson, a Tory peer, has been in the papers this week with a rumour that he is about to defect to Reform. Readers may recall that Lord Jackson was embroiled in the expenses scandal. As an MP, he claimed £66,000 for his second home — including thousands on new furniture and appliances, plus repairs to a wooden block, his “summer room” and swimming pool. He defended his claims — which included a £3,000 wool carpet — as “value for money”, although he did sniffily admit that the pool expenses “could be construed as excessive”. Why would Reform — whose manifesto says it will end government corruption — want someone like him?

🤔 “We welcome the scrutiny”

That’s what Gawain Towler said in his interview, mentioned above. But how much attention will Reform want on the candidates standing in the party’s board elections? We have identified three candidates hoping to run Reform’s management team who have promoted and voiced conspiracy theories online. Among them: Sean Matthews, Reform’s leader in Lincolnshire County Council, who has shared a post saying “the Islamic takeover is real and happening.” Read the full story here. ([link removed])

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🚨Beef alert

We’ve noticed something bleakly funny about recent interviews with senior figures in Reform. Even though the next election is four years away, the party leaders are already squabbling about who will get what job if they win. In an interview with the FT this month, Zia Yusuf said he would make a good chancellor. Uh oh! That’s the same job Richard Tice wants. He told the BBC in May that he wanted to be chancellor. Tice is deputy chairman — and a lot of his money funds the party. Yusuf has been sidelined after quitting the party and returning within 48 hours. Who will win?

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