To wonder if the majority of new councillors realise what they have signed up for?

[Bobbingtons]

After the local elections and the huge shift to reform I do wonder if the majority of newly elected counselors actually realise what they have signed up for.
Bring a counsellor is not an easy task and on average the commitment is around 22 hours a week. The job involves reading reports, helping constituents, sitting on committees and running a large complex organisation with hundreds of departments, it's not just a case of having a title, but having a whole extra job.
We saw in Kent when reform took over it fell into chaos and bickering. I know a number of reform candidates were experienced political operators, but with so many newly elected I do worry they haven't as actually considered what happens next and how much work is actually involved.
I'm highly politically motivated and have thought about standing in the past, but realised that the commitment is far too much for me to handle!

I think it’s some of both: lots of the dodgy dealings won’t be filtering into right-wing echo chambers like GB News, the Daily Mail; people increasingly get their ‘news’ from social media and YouTube (lots of unverified info and misinformation) and also, any negative facts about Reform just don’t seem to have the impact they should/could. I wonder how much of this is to do with Farage and his cult of personality - he’s somehow convinced people he’s a man of the people, for the working class and anti-establishment, when the reality tells us the opposite. I was watching him guffaw his way around de-industrialised towns in the north west last week, which have been decimated by Tory governments since Thatcher onwards, and he’s there in his blazer and mustard trousers nodding away like he cares and his party isn’t full of former Tories - I just don’t get how people can’t see it. In these towns were they have had huge wins from Labour, I’ll be watching closely which former Tory millionaire they parachute in to run as an MP - maybe it will be that which is a wake up call to locals who voted for them, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

As for the racism, I’m not so sure. None of the revelations are a shock to many of us, who know that there are ex-BNP types and known racists who have been very active for Reform at local level - there has been a lot of abuse and intimidation along with it. With local elections, at least some of their voters must know that this is who and what they voting are. We have to ask ourselves why Tice won’t condemn them outright in public. The racist abuse from Reformers that Yusuf received when he briefly left the party should leave him under no illusion who a core aspect of Reform’s support base are either.

We've just lost 2 really dedicated, hard working Independent councillors to a political party because the political party couldn't stand not having their seats.

The political party had more resources and money to throw at their, very underhand, campaign.

1 councillor doesn't even live here and the other never wanted the job to begin with. He didn't expect to be elected and was just making up the numbers.

I hope he stands down when he realises what he's done.

At least Reform didn't get in here but that's the only positive in this mess.

I wonder what Reform will do when they realise they can't "melt down Nigerians to fill potholes" or shoot people of Pakistani heritage...

I really feel for the excellent local councillors who lost due to the national parties.

The local Reform councillor who was voted in last week appears to have been all over Twitter saying things like Muslims should face genocide, laughing at a father searching for his baby in war torn rubble and also when a Sikh woman was raped. What a shock. Hopefully there is a means to remove him, but who knows?

I’m getting the popcorn ready watching all these Reform councillors implode and then watching Farage implode as the grifter loves to talk but hates work.

My DH got voted in for Reform UK. He has recently retired from a civil service role. He is well educated with chartered public and management finance exams and used to handling budgets of over several billion pounds. He's worked for Homes England, Ofwat and MoD handling very complex situations, chairing many committees and was a final line scrutineer for budgets of billions of pounds. I'm sure he'll cope at a local authority level. He has the time and energy to do a good job. Another person voted in on same day has recently retired from running his own engineering company with over 50 staff and handling many contracts. I'm sure he'll do a good job too. A third person voted on is ex military who was at a high level in Armed forces. He is used to working as part of a team to get things done. I don't recall anyone questioning the credentials of Labour councillors voted on last year at LA level. Don't believe all you read about Reform councillors being thick and uneducated.

caringcarer it must be really horrible then for you to read the comments above yours about other Reform councillors being happy about a Sikh woman being raped, a Muslim searching for a child through the rubble and about Nigerians being melted down to fill potholes 😨

what has his response been to the hideous, horrific and genocidal things his new colleagues have been saying ?

It’s good he wants to do it. Hopefully he won’t get too much SM ire.

Our previous Conservative councillors did absolutely nothing positive for the town. They signed up to be school governors, yet never went to meetings. They approved planning permission for projects the majority of the town was opposed to. They didn't attend local events, or contribute to the town in any meaningful way. The new Reform councillors cannot be any worse at the job, tbf.

There is a screening process and all SM previous posts get vetted so I'm surprised this one slipped through the net. Reform have already weeded out a few and stripped them of membership.

Because of his previous job he post very little on SM. Usually only to like a few posts about cute dogs.

We had a Conservative councillor who it turned out lived in Brazil but kept his home in the UK and only returned to UK DH 4 times each year. Thankfully he's lost his seat now. Makes you wonder why he'd bother as hardly ever around.

How does your DH feel about the fact that the party he represents attracts such people?

Eta: edited my eta as misread pps post. But I would add to that the Reform councillor who thinks Nigerians should be melted down to mend potholes.

Unfortunately, that doesn't automatically remove them from their seat.

He is 22 & a Green Party Councillor. He has done things like getting an unadopted road resurfaced, a pavement repaired after a pensioner fell & was injured, getting a mother & children in emergency accommodation after fleeing domestic violence, she contacted him after getting no help from the sitting councillor before he was unseated. He also takes part in local litter picking, helps out at the food bank, is a trustee for the local young carers charity after being helped by them from being a young carer aged 8.

Well, it's less than two working days since the local elections and Reform have already:

★ Lost one councillor for being racist (Glenn Gibbons)
★ Lost another for claiming the Holocaust was a hoax (Jay Cooper)
★ Have one who may not actually exist (Oscar Ellis)
★ Another who resigned before the election but got elected anyway (Daniel Devaney, who's also made several offensive posts about Muslims)
★ One with a conviction for domestic abuse and child neglect (David Barker)

At this rate they'll have none left by Christmas!

There is a strong arguement that party polictics should be kept out of local politics, and they should all be independents at this level, but that isn't how it works in the UK, and this is what happens as a result, but that's not the fault of the 2 new councillors who took the seats, it is a fault of the system.
Maybe give them a chance. The two independents were also new on their first day.

It's not a particularly robust screening process seeing as they chose Sharon Carby, who had passed away in 2024, as their candidate for Croydon mayor in August 2025.

@Shakeoffyourchains
"Have one who may not actually exist (Oscar Ellis)"

Go on, you've got to explain this one????

He won a seat on Thurrock but local residents have been unable to find any information at all about him, not even a photo.

No online presence exists, other than a name on whocanivotefor.co.uk, which directs you to Reform UK Thurrock's Facebook page for his contact info. But there's no mention of him there at all, even though they posted photos of all their other candidates ahead of the election. There's also no contact details on Thurrock council or any other social media or government site and no obvious way of getting in touch with him. Man's a ghost..at present anyway.

That's mad, you'd assume surely he must exist, that at somepoint they'd need to be vetted in terms of identity documents in order to stand for election at any level (do you have to be a british citizen to stand for election?) if they don't do that, then there are some serious lessons to be learnt.

Stuart Prior has just gone as well

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c152ned1dl5o?app-referrer=deep-link

They're dropping like flies. Wonder how farage will spin this 😂

There are bad people attracted to all political parties. Just look at the number of anti-Semitic MP's who lost the whip in the Labour party at a higher level than local councillors. They must have passed screening. Corbyn the ex leader of the official opposition was anti
Semitic. One of our branch councillors elected last month is married to a Nigerian lady who is in the UK legally.

That is true enough. There are anti-semites in all walks of life, sadly (although I think Corbyn has sued people for saying what you just said about him?).

The difference is that Labour has never campaigned on a ticket of anti-semitism whereas Reform proudly campaigns on a ticket of racism.

Eta: why did you feel the need to add "in the UK legally"?