The proof of the pudding

Reform UK have achieved a famous victory in the English local elections - now they have to make it work.

The two leading mainstream political parties, Labour and Conservative, will be licking their wounds but no doubt thanking their lucky stars that this particular contest did not immediately precede a general election. Had that been the case it is very probable that Reform would have benefited from the local election bounce and ended up forming the government. They may yet do so but the four-plus years between now and the latest date the general must be called gives plenty of scope for them to screw up majorly.

I know from my own four years as a local councillor the difficulty of running a local council, especially against the backdrop of central government funding cuts. It is highly unlikely that the current Labour government will be able to restore the 40% cut to local funding imposed over fourteen years of Tory government, much less increase support. Indeed, the Labour government may not wish to make life easier for Reform-run authorities and thereby improve Reform's chances of general election success on a record of local delivery. This will make it difficult for Reform to have an impact significant enough to persuade their local electors to support their parliamentary candidates in 2029.

On the contrary, it gives them plenty of time to disappoint. When potholes remain unmended, bins unemptied, fly-tipping piles up and adult and child social care and SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability) demands remain unmet, while Council Tax bills increase in a forlorn attempt to meet the budgetary shortfall, Reform candidates are liable to experience their own backlash from disillusioned residents. Moving from a protest party to one of responsibility is never an easy transition and now, across swathes of the country, the buck stops with Reform, for whom there is now nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide.

As an effectively single-issue party (that issue being regular and irregular migration into the UK) Reform may well flounder when it comes to managing the complexities of local government. This could prove to be their undoing, as it was for the BNP before them, who, having had some electoral success, lost their only London Assembly Member in 2008 and their last councillor in 2018, before fizzling out. Like the BNP, Reform may not survive the reality check of elected responsibility, where rhetoric is tested against practical delivery. Nigel Farage may yet come to regret his party's historic achievement at this point in the electoral cycle.

Be careful what you wish for is always sound advice.

Popular posts from this blog

A knight's tale - creative non-fiction

England - 1088 'What's a king without a kingdom?' 'A man, sire. And a man fights for what's his.' The king had been thinking aloud and the thirteen year-old lad's unexpected reply to his rhetorical question caught him off-guard. It was a bold response but, rather than being angered, he felt chastened by it. It was profound coming from one so young and junior in his service though prompted, he knew, by genuine love and loyalty rather than impertinence.  At a moment of grave peril so early in his new reign he valued candour, a commodity in short supply at court. He had followed his father, the Conqueror, as King William II less than a year earlier and now faced widespread rebellion. At such a time he could ill afford self-pity, much less self-doubt. He blamed himself for allowing a brief moment of self-indulgence in front of his page.  Since receiving the devastating news at Eastertide of his brother Robert's challenge the lad had been his closest companio...
Read more

2024 - a year to forget?*

As we approach the end of another rollercoaster year of 'natural' and manmade disasters, I'm taking a moment to look back - and forward. Janus, the two-faced Roman god, gave his name to the month of January, a time for both reflection and anticipation. But as I find myself unexpectedly housebound with a bout of 'flu - or it could be Covid but who has a lateral flow test kit lying around these days? - I'm self-isolating for the remainder of December. Fortuitously, this gives me some time to ponder the existential ' quo vadis ?' questions now rather than waiting until the New Year. I can always have another bite of the glacé cherry then, of course, so these are just some preliminary musings, though with so much hanging in the balance - Syria, Gaza, Ukraine, a second Trump presidency - my observations at this stage can't really be anything more than prefatory. Let's start with the unfolding situation in Syria, the outcome of which could prove to be piv...
Read more

Withering hates

News of a new film adaptation of Wuthering Heights directed by Emerald Fennell (of Saltburn fame) led me to re-read Emily Brontë's classic novel. It brought back many memories. I was raised close to 'Brontë Country' in the 1960s when that area of the West Riding of Yorkshire (as it still was then) remained very much as the Brontës would have known it: remote, bleak, inaccessible and inhospitable. Today, while the moors, apart from a few jarring wind turbines, remain as ruggedly magnificent as ever, the gaunt 17th and 18th century millstone grit farmhouses have been transformed. Fifty years ago, their cold, stone-flagged floors, rattling sash windows and smoking chimneys made comfort hard to find. Only the main living room, t' house in dialect (in Brontë's text as in my youth), had a constantly-burning range, while rag rugs helped keep the chill off our feet. Almost all have been modernised, if not outright suburbanised. Paved driveways, landscaped gardens, double...
Read more