AIBU to think Reform councillors don’t know what they’re doing?

[Wouldcou]

Reform councillor saying that she doesn’t understand the process. This is the reality of what people voted for.
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRnRo3eg/

Also see the amount of Reform Councillors who have quit or defected.

Reform UK has shed 22 councillors and counting in the two weeks since the local council elections on 7 May, triggering a series of costly by-elections.

While Reform won over 1,400 seats in the recent local council elections, Nigel Farage’s party is also shelling councillors to defections, suspensions and lost seats.

Stuart Prior, who was elected as a Reform UK councillor for Essex County Council and for Rochford District Council resigned on Monday 11 May, just days after winning these council seats.

Before the elections, it was revealed that Prior had shared racist posts on social media referring to white people as “the master race” and suggesting white people have “larger brains”.

Less than a week after being elected, Glenn Gibbins, a Reform councillor on Sunderland City Council was also suspended for posting racist comments Gibbons said that the Nigerian population in Sunderland should be melted down to “fill in potholes”.

On the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme on 10 May, Reform’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, was asked if he was happy for someone with these views to represent Reform.

Tice refused to condemn Gibbins’ comments and instead accused the media of “smearing” and “sneering” against Reform.
Ben Rowe, who was recently elected to Plymouth City Council has also been suspended for anti-Islam and antisemitic posts.

The posts were unearthed before the local elections, prompting Reform to say it was investigating the claims.

Another Reform councillor, Barry Martin, who said that the job of a councillor was “so dull and boring” resigned just a year after taking his seat.

Reform Party UK Exposed has published the full list of Reform councillor departures so far:
Lost seats on 7 May

• Mike Morris
• Clarence Mitchell
• Alan Cook
• Mark Shooter
• Kira Gabbert

Resigned

• Daniel Devaney
• Stuart Prior
• Jay Cooper
• Barry Martin
• Stephen Mousdell
• Andrew Harrison
• Kenny Hope
• Danielle Cavanagh

Defected

• Nick Farmer
• Ashley Monk
• Jo Monk
• Matthew Jones

Suspended

• Ben Rowe
• Glenn Gibbins
• Paul Heyward
• Nathaniel Menday
• Laura Newham

Dr David Bull, Reform’s former party chair has also been replaced by Lee Anderson, the Reform MP for Ashfield. In a post announcing Bull’s departure on Facebook, Reform said it was “delighted” that Anderson has become the party’s new chair, adding: “David Bull has overseen unprecedented growth in his time as Chairman and will still remain heavily involved in the party”.

The privileged demographics felt something was being taken from them by EDI measures, because it was. They have had their historical ability to perpetuate their privileged a little bit challenged by attempts to give other less privileged people a seat at the table.
Any attempts to level the playing field are always going to risk alienating those who benefit from it being skewed. And I'm not sure there is a way that would have avoided it tbh.

Agreed, but when I look at my work, there is extra training and development opportunities for every conceivable characteristic (women, sexuality, race, religion, low socioeconomic background), but absolutely nothing at white middle class straight men. And that’s got to be tough to see, because actually that demographic still needs a lot of development support (not least to help understand and appreciate why all the other support is there).

I had a chat with a white male straight middle class senior leader of my team the other day who was (sort of rightly) worried about the candidates he had for a senior role all being men just like him. It was great that he was aware, but also a bit sad that it was actively counting against them in the process as we do desperately need more diversity in our leadership team. There’s a risk we’re going too far in tipping the balance, even where people are the most well meaning about it. And I’d come out raging if I had the perception that the world was being skewed against me in this way.

I can’t caveat enough that I deeply believe we need more diversity in leadership in all parts of our society, and there are IDE issues at societal and institutional levels that desperately need resolving. I think we’ve gone about it the wrong way and ended up in the worst of all worlds.

I don’t have a better answer by the way, but I logically get the appeal of Reform to people like this. I can see how if things were different that I might end up caught up in their rhetoric.

And insinuating those people are “thick” is perpetuating the issue even more. The left would do better to listen to those people and understand why they feel the way they do, and try to address root problems instead of leaping on the attack.

I’ve said many times that I’d rather have a dinner party with Nigel Farage than say Jeremy Corbyn or Zak Polanski because I think Nigel would be open to a debate and listening to other sides. The left have gone too far in the sense of you’re with us or you’re an idiot/bigot/terf/fascist and won’t entertain debate or discussion.

You're absolutely right. No one has the slightest need to know what you think. You just keep your thoughts in the privacy of your own head, and we can keep guessing about you. You could be our very own Man of Mystery. Fathoms deep and Too deep to fathom.

I don’t want to download TikTok especially, but is that video of Sarah Wood from Kirklees Council saying “We don’t know” to everything.

I’m embarrassed to live in Kirklees. Historically, they’ve not been too bad.

Nasty? I thought you were opposed to insulting voters?🤔 As for anti-Reform posters not understanding the working class at all what a load of rubbish. Im working class, but Im not thick, im not racist and I wouldnt vote Reform if you paid me because they're ignorant grifters.

Oi @TemperanceWest did you do all those things that @anyolddinosaur accused you of?🤯

With all these Reform councillors not knowing the process, why didn't Reform offer training and support? Surely the party (PLC) has a responsibility to ensure their councillors understand the processes.

So small time and unprepared. They are an embarrassment

If you don't know the process learn it. Sit down in meetings, listen and learn.

I've learnt that someone we know has become a magistrate. He's as thick as mince and will need handholds for every case 🙈

People need to understand that if Reform councils are awful and with a crap track record for councillors resigning etc.

Their incompetence is affecting 50k-350k per council. Also had the biggest increase in CT.

Can you imagine if the incompetence was matched if Reform won the next GE?

Reform are not your friends

Yes. I personally went into the homes of elderly people, stole their winter fuel allowance then gave it to Sid down the pub who fraudulently claims PIP.

If all the candidates for the senior role were men, then clearly your workplace isn't operating in a way that disadvantages them against other people. It can sometimes help with the EDI push back to point these things out.
As far as individuals are concerned, it's case dependent I guess. What advantage was the extra training going to give employees who weren't white straight men?
Would they energe in a better place, or at the same level as the complainants? Because if the latter, the scheme would lay the workplace open to discrimination claims by the white men. They are protected.

I think everyone goes too far when they make sweeping generalisations about people. Reform voters are thick comes from the exact same place as 'lefties are woke virtue signallers who won't listen'.
Both are stereotypes based on characteristics shown by some of the group, but to toss them out as insults in place of debating ideas is lazy and unhelpful.
People on the right can be very guilty of this. Of creating a monster from everything they don't like, from trans activism, to support for welfare rights, to a middle of the road Labour government, calling it 'The Left' and tarring everyone from the blue haired trans activist to my 80 year old former miner, life long Labour voting uncle, with the same brush.
I got "people like you" thrown at me, despite my post at 7.42 this morning when it became apparent I'm left wing.

I disagree that Farage is open to debate. Farage is open to encouraging 'debate' about the issues he wants to pursue. He has carefully curated an image of the only one who 'dares to say what we're thinking' but only when what people are thinking aligns with his own agenda.

My newly elected Reform councillor lives on our street. He’s an absolute knob. A few years ago his son kicked our daughter. Badly. She was down on the ground when he kicked her like a football three times. Winded her. Left her sobbing. Kids were only 10 at the time. I went to speak to his parents, dad answered the door, dad gave me a mouthful of abuse and told me to sod off and sling my hook. Scum son and dad. He’s now our local community rep. Absolutely disgusting man. Fits in well.

That's absolutely shocking!

If councillors can't be bothered to read the reports etc that they are making decisions about, they've no business being on the council. And expecting the council taxpayer to fund the salary of someone to explain it all to them and write their speeches is just fucking outrageous.

I'm intrigued to know if the councillors from other parties will also have such "advisors", or if they are restricted to the majority group.

@5128gap

I don't agree with calling people thick. I'm just pointing out that calling existing Reform voters thick (after the event) isn't the reason they voted Reform.
People who support Reform should be able to explain their popularity on the basis of their competence and policies. If they have to resort to 'the left made us do it' it speaks poorly of their confidence in their convictions.

I agree. The main argument that Reform voters seem to use (on here and elsewhere) to justify voting Reform is because they are tired of being called "thick" and "being patronised".

Of course calling people thick and talking down to them is a bad idea, that hardly needs saying, but the idea that you push back against accusations of being stupid by voting for incompetent, poorly educated, ill-prepared and (often) racist people is an absolute nonsense.

If Reform voters want to be properly enfranchised and to have an impact on the way the country is run it's not enough to just wang on ad nauseam about how they are sticking it to the metropolitan elites. We've been hearing that argument now for well over a decade; it's led to the most catastrophic piece of policy the UK has had since the Second World War and has embedded poor policy and poor public behaviour. And the "change" people want flies in the face of economic consensus and public decency.

If you want to be treated as intelligent, thoughtful people you have to earn that right.

They'll just blame central government.

Yet you felt compelled to reply. Ok then.

I watched a council meeting yesterday where reform had to be told to stop banging about 'point of order' every time it wasn't one. They were also exceptionally rude to others talking over them in the meeting.

Everyone seems to have disappeared at our LA. I'm wondering if their staff have done the same.

We can only hope their incompetence means people start to see sense and don't vote for them in the next GE.

^^this, with a cherry on the top.

@LakieLady only the top two parties in the council would be eligible for assistants. Reform and lib dem’s. independents greens and labour all criticised it. some reform councillors who were rumoured not to agree didn’t turn up to the meeting.

I don't blame you, @Tooprincipled .

My county council is hung, but they elected Reform councillors as leader and lead members of all the services.

I'm glad I'm not in my old job, where I'd have to deal with them on a daily basis.

Plus in a pp with DD being hit by her now councillor’s son.

AFAIK Oldham still haven't elected a mayor.

Definitely true and widely reported. Richard Tice certainly didn’t deny it but kept trying to change the subject.

Not at all unreasonable.

But I'm afraid the indoctrinated cult members will say you are.