Tice comments dismissed by Restore Britain councillor

Dudley’s only Restore Britain councillor says Reform UK need to ask themselves questions after surrendering a seat on the council by two votes.

Cllr Andrew Southall was speaking in the wake of the St James’s by-election on October 29 when Labour’s Caroline Reid regained the seat on Dudley Council she lost to Reform UK in May’s local elections.

Reform polled two less votes in the by-election, which was triggered when the party’s sitting councillor resigned for personal reasons, while Restore Britain, which also sits to the right of the political spectrum, got 159 votes.

The result prompted Reform UK’s national deputy leader, Richard Tice MP, to say ‘vote Restore get Labour’.

Cllr Southall, who defected from Reform UK to Restore Britain earlier this year, said: “Had Reform found the three votes they needed to win, nobody would be talking about vote splitting.

“This election was such a low turnout, Reform need to ask themselves why they couldn’t find those three votes out of the roughly 8,000 people who stayed at home.

“It’s like losing the final game of the season, getting relegated, and blaming the other teams for winning their games elsewhere.”

The turnout on October 29 was 22.45 percent and Cllr Reid was re-elected with 874 votes.

Back in May Reform UK’s Ivor Robinson won with 1,630 votes from a turnout of 32.86 percent.

Dudley Reform UK’s leader, Cllr Marco Longhi, said: “I think Restore’s 159 votes may well have made the difference, given the two-vote margin. But I wouldn’t say Labour only won because of Restore.

“It’s our job to persuade enough people to vote for us. We live in a democracy. The absence of a LibDem candidate, the very tough summer we’ve had nationally and voter apathy all played their part too.

“We need to recognise that, learn from it and make sure we do better next time.”

Labour admit they would have liked a bigger majority and acknowledge there is plenty of work to do before the next round of elections in May 2027.

Dudley’s Labour group leader, Cllr Shaukat Ali, said: “It was a hard fought campaign, Caroline and the whole team of supporters put in a lot of effort to persuade people to vote Labour.

“We won by two but Caroline increased her vote by 20 percent from back in May on a lower turnout.”

Cllr Ali believes votes may be turning away from Reform UK after questions about party funding and the behaviour of some of its councillors.

Cllr Ali also thinks the lower turnout may also indicate Reform UK voters in May stayed at home for the by-election.

He added: “It doesn’t necessarily translate that the 159 votes would have gone to Reform, there are all sorts of reasons.”

By Martyn Smith | Local Democracy Reporting Service