For many on the progressive wing of politics, our current political scene is a mystery. Polls suggest that, although half of all voters would never consider voting for them, Reform UK is about to take control of the three traditionally Conservative counties in our region – Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk. Yet many progressives see Reform as an extreme, irresponsible and incompetent party of racists, led by the man whose campaign for Brexit caused the economic problems which still beset our economy. Have so many people really changed, or do they not know what they are voting for?
Desperate: not extreme
First, we should avoid stereotyping Reform voters and activists. Yes, they include people with extreme economic and social views. But those are still views of a tiny minority on the outer fringe of British society, and many of those considering voting Reform would be horrified by them.
More in Common has been researching attitudes to Reform, and they do not find a sudden shift to extreme right-wing views. Rather, the driver is 15 years of economic stagnation. When life was getting better – albeit slowly for most people – voting for one of the two main parties changed things a bit one way or the other, and people were content to live with the political status quo.
But that stopped abruptly. The austerity response to the global economic crash of 2008 eroded living standards and public services. Angry about those changes, people were persuaded, especially by Nigel Farage, that radical change was the answer and they voted, narrowly, for a second disaster – Brexit. Without Brexit’s 6–8% reduction in British GDP, the average household could now be £5–7,000 a year richer.
When people believe that their future, and the future of their children, will be worse than the past, they naturally look for someone to blame. And More in Common finds that, at its core, the rise in Reform voting is driven by the sense that the ‘system’ is, in some indefinable way, rigged against “people like me”, and somebody else is benefiting. The left blame the rich, and the right blame immigrants.
And neither of the mainstream political parties appears to have a solution. After fourteen years of Conservative failure, in 2024, people voted Labour for radical change, and have been disappointed. Although Labour has done many things to address the problems, most have been poorly promoted and they all take time. After a decade of decline, people are impatient, so they turn to radical alternatives. To those not paying close attention, Reform sounds like serious, but not extreme, change. They are wrong.
Are these the people you want in charge?
Most voters, especially those most disaffected, pay little attention to day-to-day politics. They may well not be aware of who they are voting for, or what Reform has actually done where it is in control. So, we need to understand who the Reform councillors are.
For many people, Reform is Nigel Farage, and most voters know little of their other representatives. Ironically, for a party which claims to represent the common man, Farage continues to earn very large sums while remaining the MP for Clacton, and his closeness to Donald Trump plays badly with many British voters.
Our politics traditionally rests on a large network of experienced local people with known qualities ready to stand for election. By contrast, Reform has had to create structures and find thousands of candidates from scratch. About a tenth of all those elected in 2025 have left the party, either switching parties or resigning.
Hope not Hate found some Reform councillors horrified by their own colleagues, with councillors not attending meetings, meetings cancelled, and ferocious internal squabbles. Some have left the party but kept their seats. Two Reform council leaders resigned in their first three months. At least ten have resigned their seats altogether, citing bullying, “toxic and poisonous” cultures. The resulting by-elections cost taxpayers upwards of £25,000 a time.
They have also documented Reform councillors expressing extreme misogynistic and racist views, sharing neo-Nazi material, supporting Tommy Robinson, praising Putin, calling for Islam to be “removed from the planet”, and sharing Hitler memes.
To strengthen its experience in local government, Reform has been recruiting defectors from the Conservative Party at national and local levels. It is ironic that some voters who have angrily rejected Conservative politicians may end up voting for the same people under a new banner.
Have they done a good job?
In its campaign literature, Reform promised: to deliver lower taxes through eliminating waste; to cut borrowing; to improve local services; and to demonstrate a higher standard of competence and integrity than established parties.
Most Reform led councils have failed to deliver any of these. Despite plenty of local campaign literature promising reduced taxes, several have acknowledged that they were unable to find waste. All Reform councils have raised council tax, in some cases having to request government approval to raise them above the government limit. All have failed to cut borrowing.
Reform councils have cut or threatened to cut care homes and public health programmes, and have abandoned key pledges. In Lancashire, they have proposed reducing bin collection frequency from two to three weeks. Nottinghamshire cut the pothole budget while spending £75,000 putting up Union flags. In Lincolnshire, they have cut funding for English as a second language classes, despite Reform’s complaint about immigrants not speaking English.
Reform is strongly opposed to climate change policies. Despite the immediate energy crisis, and recent experience of flooding in many Reform controlled areas, most Reform-controlled councils have scrapped climate targets, policies, and committees. Kent rescinded existing climate policies with a motion stating that they are “open-minded but sceptical of anthropogenic climate change”, and many Reform councillors have expressed climate sceptic views. Self-financing green initiatives, like house insulation, have been scrapped.
Does this all matter?
These are local elections. Although the national media are framing them as a test of the national government, voting on 7 May will have no impact on small boat crossings, or what happens in the Straits of Hormuz. It will have a marginal impact on the cost of living. But it will impact the local environment and local services.
Most people want local government to work. They don’t want ideology; they want efficiency, and if possible, lower taxes, and they would like local politicians who are there when they have a problem. For all their failings, the traditional parties have always had a ground force of local party organisation and activists who keep them in touch with those public concerns.
The people Reform has gathered as candidates mostly lack that underpinning. Some have been drafted in at the last minute through public advertisements. Whether they can command the support of local people and deliver what they want is a moot point. The record so far does not inspire confidence. One has only to look at Nigel Farage’s record of supporting his constituents.
For those who doubt the ability of Reform to do these things, there is one crumb of comfort. Local government is being reorganised. In 2028, these councils, in Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk, and the unitary authorities of Thurrock and Southend will all be abolished. In a year’s time, we will elect the shadow councils for the new unitary authorities. If, as the polls predict, Reform wins control this month, they have only a year to prove they can run local government better than their predecessors. They will have to do better than they have managed so far.
Hope not Hate’s report on the experience of Reform in local government can be found here.
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