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Politics

What will Reform in local authorities look like?

77 replies

Picklez · 05/05/2025 19:18

Sorry couldn’t find a thread that covered this. I’m in an area where Reform are now in charge of the council.

What does this actually mean in terms of what they will be able to do / powers they will have? I understand their biggest policy appears to be tackling immigration which doesn’t seem like something they would have power over in a county council. I saw Farage had said that all workers will be sent back to the office and that EDI jobs will become obsolete in a bid to save money, but I’m unsure what other changes we might see locally.

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LookingForRecommendation · 05/05/2025 19:45

DOGE, cuts to SEN, probably an increase in adult social care as they rely on the pensioner vote, no wfh for employees, endless money poured into the elderly while young people have yet more cuts

BobbyBiscuits · 05/05/2025 19:47

Horrendous no doubt. I honestly dread to think.
The kind of people they've got seem like cobbled together rejects from the Tories or UKIP with massive megalomaniac tendancies.
I doubt they'll ever get in round my area but I'd honestly be horrified if they did.

Tomikka · 05/05/2025 19:55

They will have a problem fitting all WFH staff in the office at once due to there not being enough desks for them, and difficulty in removing EDI jobs that are a portion of a role.

No need to mention the expense of redundancy and going to court for failure to comply with equality legislation.

Jacob Reece-Mogg failed to make these soundbite changes in neither the whole Civil Service nor his own government department.

clareykb · 05/05/2025 20:00

I work in one of these and we have recently shut loads of buildings as lots of people are hybrid if everyone was told to go back in there would be nowhere to sit...they would have to spend millions to get everyone in so that's a non starter. Lots they can't change as it's statutory services (they can't sack all the social workers and Send workers and replace them with stop the boat officers) in addition there is a massive Union presence and loads of jobs in non reform councils near by so I think people will just leave and then they will be sadled with expensive agency staff... so hoping its just apt of bluster... but have still been on the jobs site this eve!

samarrange · 05/05/2025 20:01

Well, they hopefully won't do what the French National Front did in the mid-1990s when they took over a couple of towns in the south of France. Within 3 months, every single municipal employee with an Arabic-sounding name had been fired. The French parliament rushed through emergency legislation in the five days between the election results (Sunday) and the swearing-in of the new officials (Friday) to remove guns from local (municipal) police in every town in the country, because there was believed to be a real possibility that the police in those two places would essentially become death squads. I'm sure nothing like that could happen in the UK, though, because nobody in Reform has ever had a racist thought in their lives.

Anyway, here's my (somewhat) tongue-in-cheek bingo card, which I look forward to filling in over the next four years (because of course I am gullible and will believe the reports in the Fake News Media™):

You can expect to see any facilities for asylum seekers in these towns either being closed, or mysteriously no longer unable to obtain council services (if they are funded by central government or charities). Ditto for funding or support of anything related to the rights of gay people or other minorities. Community events will be opened by Reform council leaders accompanied by the leaders of local churches and synagogues, but mysteriously not mosques.

The town will be twinned with somewhere in Hungary, Russia, or Florida.

Despite Reform's hatred of "woke", almost everything will be couched in ideological terms worthy of a far-left student union debating club. Any programmes that link the council to the local university will be shut down because "Everyone knows academics are all lefty Sharia-loving woke nutters".

Any remaining plaques saying that the leisure centre or library was partly funded by EU money will be chiselled out. Libraries will be inspected for "woke" content by lefty do-gooder vaccine-loving authors such as Roald Dahl.

Schools under local authority control will be required to fly the Union Jack outside and have a picture of the Queen (not the King, he's a bit flaky) in the hall at assembly.

To the extent that the council has any sort of say about policing, all of the woke namby-pamby "Community support" nonsense will be out, and the police will be put back to their traditional role of giving youngsters a clip round the ear. Needless to say, such clips will be administered on a strictly colour-blind basis.

No vegan food will be available at any official function. Nor will the buffet items have any allergy warnings, as that's all woke nonsense and nobody had allergies in my day.

Local reporters who ask too many awkward questions will find themselves no longer invited to cover council meetings. They may or may not have dog shit put through their letterboxes. The police will be too busy clipping youngsters round the ear to investigate.

I also expect that we will discover that a lot of Reform councillors have "interesting" pasts, including in quite a few cases substantial arrears on their council tax or child maintenance. I remember when the BNP won a few council seats around 2008-2010 and some of the stories were hilarious. There will be a culture clash within the Reform group between those who are actually serious about crime, and those for whom fly-tipping or drunken assault are part of a normal weekend: "You can't even slap your wife any more, it's political correctness gorn mad". (To be fair, a lot of local councillors of all parties seem to have utterly chaotic personal lives.)

In many councils the Reform group, which will turn out to be a coalition of people with very little in common apart from below-average anger management skills, will split. This will often lead to the slightly-less-barking Reform rump having to be propped up by the Tories because it's four years until the next election.

Massage parlours will become great again.

Zeitumschaltung · 05/05/2025 20:04

Assuming it will go similarly to when UKIP ran Thanet, I would expect extensive corruption and bankruptcy within months. They aren’t in it to serve the public, just look at what Farage does for the people of Clacton on a regular basis (i.e. fuck all).

HeddaGarbled · 05/05/2025 20:08

I think we’ll barely notice. They’ll all meet once a month and argue and bang on about their particular bonnet-bees and a few parishioners will whinge about everything on the Facebook community page, but the bins will still get emptied infrequently and the pot-holes won’t get mended and the libraries will be closed, just like now.

TianasBayou · 05/05/2025 20:20

They legally have to operate within the powers / rules / governance set out by government for that level of council. So it will be interesting to see how the chief officers advise the new councillors.

caringcarer · 05/05/2025 20:21

I can tell you in my area the Reform councillors will be looking to make cuts to wasted money being spent. I have a foster son who attends a special school about 20 miles away. He has a taxi provided. One comes from 38 miles away to my house to pick him up, then drives him to his s hool 20 miles, then drives back to taxi base about 15 miles away. In the afternoon again in reverse. I've suggested to the transport department they could hire a taxi service either from the area his school is in or town I live in which would cut out about 100 miles travel each day, but no they won't change it. The taxi cost is £43k per annum. They could cut about £12-15k off of this bill but they refuse to change. Imagine with this attitude there will be other DC having taxis from miles away instead of using local firms who do have vacancies. Reform UK councillors have been told about this particular waste and are looking to go in and to make a change to save wasting money. There other big focus in my area is potholes. They are so bad in my town. Sorry to disappoint but nothing to do with illegal immigrants.

Facecream24 · 05/05/2025 20:22

They have to operate within the remit and constraints of local government. They will quickly find they have no influence over national policy and that running a council is an actual slog requiring real time and effort from the leaders. Whether they put this time and effort in is another matter but thankfully the officers will remain to give direction and advice which the councillors will hopefully listen to. Running a council is a massively different ball game to being an MP and I think it will be a sharp shock for many of them especially if they’ve never held a role before.

LlynTegid · 05/05/2025 20:23

I expect that within a year there will be several councillors elected under a Reform ticket who will have left or been removed from the party because of behaviour, perhaps comments in meetings or on social media.

dubsie · 05/05/2025 21:29

Picklez · 05/05/2025 19:18

Sorry couldn’t find a thread that covered this. I’m in an area where Reform are now in charge of the council.

What does this actually mean in terms of what they will be able to do / powers they will have? I understand their biggest policy appears to be tackling immigration which doesn’t seem like something they would have power over in a county council. I saw Farage had said that all workers will be sent back to the office and that EDI jobs will become obsolete in a bid to save money, but I’m unsure what other changes we might see locally.

It's funny but not all work from home is necessarily a bad thing. In many cases such a policy will actually cause real issues because many local authorities have sold offices. Could end up costing a fortune.

I'm not a big fan of working from home but even I can see the advantages for the employer and employee. The disadvantages are that you lose touch with people you work with, home offices are always safe and it's also difficult to switch off

In America companies like Microsoft, Apple and Google have refused to comply and Trump only had power over federal employees

It's a political statement and one that screams of I hate state employees. It's like flags, Farage wants only the union jack and English rose flying but for me I fly the Irish and Derbyshire Flag...I'm an Irish person living in Derbyshire. I don't particularly like the union jack because where I was born we had the orange order waving it and banging drums and hurling abuse at us when I walked to school. I've got no problem with people flying the flag if it's done for the right reasons...pride but when I see the Tommy Robinson morons marching through our cities, it leaves a foul taste and brings back awful memories.

I can honestly see big problems coming.

stomachamelon · 05/05/2025 22:44

@Zeitumschaltungsadly I know lots of people in Thanet that think they ‘got things done’.

WinterMorn · 05/05/2025 22:48

Beautifully written @samarrange

marmaladeandpeanutbutter · 06/05/2025 04:17

Excellent post @samarrange

samarrange · 06/05/2025 11:10

In many councils the Reform group, which will turn out to be a coalition of people with very little in common apart from below-average anger management skills, will split.

Clearly I wasn't ambitious enough. Here we have a newly-elected Reform candidate who has already been suspended by the party, just 3 days after winning her seat, because she announced — before the election — her intention to defect anyway.

Reform is now in effect two parties. The house-trained version led by Farage, with a Muslim chairman and a "No Tommy Robinson" policy on the one hand, and the "Can we stop pretending and get on with setting fire to mosques" party on the other, exemplified by this councillor whose X feed (I won't link to it, but it's not hard to find) enthusiastically retweets Katie Hopkins and the Great Martyr Tommeh himself. It will be interesting to see what happens. 🍿

A polling station in Shropshire. There is a metal gate with a paper sign that says POLLING STATION. Someone can be seen walking past with a ballot paper in the background

Shropshire councillor resigns from Reform UK after suspension

Donna Edmunds was suspended from the party over a post on X declaring she had planned to defect.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c230je4dmklo

ShapedLikeAPastry · 06/05/2025 11:29

I live in Thanet, so I fully expect the overflowing bins, dogshit, graffiti and anti-social behaviour from thick, drunken racists to rapidly get even worse than they already are.

samarrange · 06/05/2025 12:34

dubsie · 05/05/2025 21:29

It's funny but not all work from home is necessarily a bad thing. In many cases such a policy will actually cause real issues because many local authorities have sold offices. Could end up costing a fortune.

I'm not a big fan of working from home but even I can see the advantages for the employer and employee. The disadvantages are that you lose touch with people you work with, home offices are always safe and it's also difficult to switch off

In America companies like Microsoft, Apple and Google have refused to comply and Trump only had power over federal employees

It's a political statement and one that screams of I hate state employees. It's like flags, Farage wants only the union jack and English rose flying but for me I fly the Irish and Derbyshire Flag...I'm an Irish person living in Derbyshire. I don't particularly like the union jack because where I was born we had the orange order waving it and banging drums and hurling abuse at us when I walked to school. I've got no problem with people flying the flag if it's done for the right reasons...pride but when I see the Tommy Robinson morons marching through our cities, it leaves a foul taste and brings back awful memories.

I can honestly see big problems coming.

Farage wants only the union jack and English rose flying but for me I fly the Irish and Derbyshire Flag...

Day 5 of the sunlit uplands and we have the first U-turn.
https://x.com/reformparty_uk/status/1919361578886939113

https://x.com/reformparty_uk/status/1919361578886939113

bidon · 06/05/2025 12:38

caringcarer · 05/05/2025 20:21

I can tell you in my area the Reform councillors will be looking to make cuts to wasted money being spent. I have a foster son who attends a special school about 20 miles away. He has a taxi provided. One comes from 38 miles away to my house to pick him up, then drives him to his s hool 20 miles, then drives back to taxi base about 15 miles away. In the afternoon again in reverse. I've suggested to the transport department they could hire a taxi service either from the area his school is in or town I live in which would cut out about 100 miles travel each day, but no they won't change it. The taxi cost is £43k per annum. They could cut about £12-15k off of this bill but they refuse to change. Imagine with this attitude there will be other DC having taxis from miles away instead of using local firms who do have vacancies. Reform UK councillors have been told about this particular waste and are looking to go in and to make a change to save wasting money. There other big focus in my area is potholes. They are so bad in my town. Sorry to disappoint but nothing to do with illegal immigrants.

I’m afraid this demonstrates a level of ignorance. Local authorities have to putting spending over a certain level out to tender. This ensure value for money and correct spending of money from the public purse. I would think that contractors who provide looked after children with transport, paid for by the public purse ALSO have to be vetted and trained to a particular standard over and above the usual local authority taxi licensing process. So this will be one contractor that covers the entire authority. Whilst the individual job you refer to may not reflect value for money. It’s likely a large proportion of the other jobs in the contract do.

It is nuances like this that inexperienced (and naive to dealing with the public purse) are really going to struggle with.

LookingForRecommendation · 06/05/2025 13:10

43k for 1 child transport!!!!!!!!!!!!

caringcarer · 06/05/2025 14:03

bidon · 06/05/2025 12:38

I’m afraid this demonstrates a level of ignorance. Local authorities have to putting spending over a certain level out to tender. This ensure value for money and correct spending of money from the public purse. I would think that contractors who provide looked after children with transport, paid for by the public purse ALSO have to be vetted and trained to a particular standard over and above the usual local authority taxi licensing process. So this will be one contractor that covers the entire authority. Whilst the individual job you refer to may not reflect value for money. It’s likely a large proportion of the other jobs in the contract do.

It is nuances like this that inexperienced (and naive to dealing with the public purse) are really going to struggle with.

There are other DC who are also looked after going in other taxi firms in my town, so clearly these must be vetted too, so your argument only one firm can be used is rubbish. Clearly it is you who don't know what you are talking about.

Badbadbunny · 07/05/2025 10:51

@bidon

It is nuances like this that inexperienced (and naive to dealing with the public purse) are really going to struggle with.

In our county, one of the candidates going for the council leader's job is the ex-council leader who resigned from his party last year to join Reform, so he knows the job inside out already. Our own county councillor for our area is a Parish Councillor. Another is a city councillor. So lots of experience in local government at various levels already. They're not all novices!

InterP · 07/05/2025 11:02

caringcarer · 05/05/2025 20:21

I can tell you in my area the Reform councillors will be looking to make cuts to wasted money being spent. I have a foster son who attends a special school about 20 miles away. He has a taxi provided. One comes from 38 miles away to my house to pick him up, then drives him to his s hool 20 miles, then drives back to taxi base about 15 miles away. In the afternoon again in reverse. I've suggested to the transport department they could hire a taxi service either from the area his school is in or town I live in which would cut out about 100 miles travel each day, but no they won't change it. The taxi cost is £43k per annum. They could cut about £12-15k off of this bill but they refuse to change. Imagine with this attitude there will be other DC having taxis from miles away instead of using local firms who do have vacancies. Reform UK councillors have been told about this particular waste and are looking to go in and to make a change to save wasting money. There other big focus in my area is potholes. They are so bad in my town. Sorry to disappoint but nothing to do with illegal immigrants.

My Labour Council and a local Conservative Council are both making changes to school transport policy, purely driven by hugely rising costs. In the 2018–19 financial year, the council spent approximately £24.2 million on this service. By the 2023–24 financial year, this expenditure had risen to a forecasted £42.1 million, marking an increase of nearly 74% over the five-year period.

This is driven by budget cuts and spiralling costs, not political party.

Rises are due to operational costs including increased fuel and insurance as well as a huge increase in the number of pupils with SEN ( arise if 47% in those needing transport) combined with lack of local SEN places. (impacted massively by Conservative policy of LA’s not being able to open new schools ( and academies not being interested in opening SEN schools either)).

Changes to school transport is very unpopular with parents and lots of unrest within the council members.

caringcarer · 07/05/2025 11:09

There will be no EU flags flying over council buildings.