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Local Councillors gone so far, Reform

(13 Posts)
Cossy Mon 18-May-26 07:57:14

What a waste of time our local elections have turned out to be over the past couple of years, and what a wast of money!

Many of us have boundaries changes next year, so didn’t really need elections this year, but guess who stirred up the electorate to complain, stating “voters are being deprived of their democratic right to vote”.

Now, voting doesn’t come cheap, even in local elections. Some estimates put our entire cost at some £63m.

Here’s what’s happened thus far with Reform, remember we are still under two weeks since we voted:-

: Reform councillors quitting, suspended or imploding since the

Reform told voters they were sending in “common sense” candidates to fix local government. Instead, within days of the May elections we’ve already seen resignations, suspensions, expulsions and investigations.

❌ Andrew Osbourn (Cambridgeshire)
Lost his council seat after being convicted of breaking electoral law.

❌ Kenny Hope (Durham)
Suspended by Reform before resigning after internal disputes.

❌ Andrew Harrison (Durham)
Suspended by Reform before resigning from the party after internal disputes.

❌ Stephen Mousdell (St Helens)
Resigned from Reform less than two weeks after being elected.

❌ Barry Martin (Staffordshire)
Resigned his council seat after complaints over social media posts.

❌ Glenn Gibbins (Sunderland)
Suspended by Reform over alleged racist social media posts.

❌ Stuart Prior (Essex)
Expelled from Reform and resigned both his council seats after alleged racist and Islamophobic posts surfaced.

❌ Nathaniel Menday (Sheffield)
Suspended by Reform over alleged extremist social media activity.

❌ Ben Rowe (Plymouth)
Suspended by Reform after alleged antisemitic and Islamophobic posts emerged.

❌ Jo Monk (Worcestershire)
Suspended by Reform after a leadership row.

❌ Ashley Monk (Worcestershire)
Suspended by Reform during the Worcestershire infighting.

❌ Daniel Devaney (Bradford)
Publicly said he didn’t want to stand before polling day, then got elected anyway and resigned.

❌ Nick Farmer (Wakefield)
Suspended by Reform after internal disagreements.

❌ Jay Cooper (Sefton)
Declared “not welcome” by Farage himself and resigned from the party after Holocaust denial posts resurfaced. Still a sitting councillor.

❌ Worcestershire County Council Reform minority authority collapsed.”

Reform assured us after last years “fiasco” that their vetting system had been improved. Approx 40% of last years elected Reform councillors are no longer in post.

Sources, various.

Whitewavemark2 Mon 18-May-26 08:03:01

The trouble is that given the unspoken reform agenda, they are bound to attract these types.

The real worry will be that if they get into government and then have no reason to get rid of these people.

Cossy Mon 18-May-26 08:33:11

Whitewavemark2

The trouble is that given the unspoken reform agenda, they are bound to attract these types.

The real worry will be that if they get into government and then have no reason to get rid of these people.

Whilst I do agree, at least if these people ever actually make it to Central Government, they will be “controlled” somewhat by MPs of other parties and the HoL. Out in the community. As they are now, they are actually less controlled.

Farage is very experienced in Politics, but if they follow his lead they’ll almost never be in their constituencies.

Maremia Mon 18-May-26 12:14:44

He is very experienced in the 'performative' aspects of canvassing, but through his own inaction, very little experience in working in any actual political 'day job'.

Chocolatelovinggran Mon 18-May-26 14:40:31

Maremia, indeed, as we learned from his years as an MEP.

silverlining48 Mon 18-May-26 14:47:10

Farage is a business man not a politician. As an MEP while taking the salary he was hardly ever present. Pretty much the same in Clacton his Essex constituency too. He is never there.
Why anyone would vote reform defeats me.

dayvidg Mon 18-May-26 15:02:19

silverlining48

Farage is a business man not a politician. As an MEP while taking the salary he was hardly ever present. Pretty much the same in Clacton his Essex constituency too. He is never there.
Why anyone would vote reform defeats me.

Possibly precisely because he's not a politician

Casdon Mon 18-May-26 15:28:01

Do people not realise he was an MEP for twenty years then dayvidg?

twaddle Mon 18-May-26 15:43:03

Casdon

Do people not realise he was an MEP for twenty years then dayvidg?

The trouble is that he turned up so rarely (while collecting his salary) that he didn't get a lot of experience.

Graphite Mon 18-May-26 15:47:16

He isn’t a businessman.

He was a commodities trader before entering politics which involves sitting at a desk gambling with other people’s money.

I see no evidence of him ever having set up and run a business which produced anything, or of him having employed a workforce.

Since entering politics he has done nothing other than disrupt while making a lot of money for himself playing the showman.

Fallingstar Mon 18-May-26 16:02:31

But I fear that as with Trump, Reform’s supporters will overlook all the red flags and blindly vote for them, is all about small boats, they really don’t care about anything else, which us just as well because there isn’t anything else and the real irony of it is they won’t be able to sort out the small boats either because it is a complex political issue involving our increased cooperation with European nations, not something Farage has ever excelled at.

MayBee70 Mon 18-May-26 16:02:34

Casdon

Do people not realise he was an MEP for twenty years then dayvidg?

Of course not as he never turned up to represent the people he was paid to represent [ie the fishermen] as it wasn't in his best interest to do so sad.

Fallingstar Mon 18-May-26 16:07:41

Voters need to get a bit wiser and not just vote for a party in a fit of pique, simply because other parties haven’t done exactly what they want. Politics can be ponderous and boring and it can take years to put in place legislation or policies that will benefit the country. Any party that offers quick fixes is lying.