Reform says judge us in Dudley not from miles away

As the nation prepares to vote in local elections Reform UK is riding high in opinion polls with big gains predicted.

In Dudley, where 25 of the council’s 72 seats will be up for grabs, the party is fielding a candidate for every one and expectations are the party will increase its presence in the council chamber from its current three members.

While Reform cannot take control in Dudley as a result of the May 7 elections, the group is eyeing up a time it could win a majority in the council chamber.

Dudley Reform UK chairman, Marco Longhi, said: “Whilst I think we are going to make some big inroads, I don’t see us winning every seat.

“Our plans are 2027 and one of the first things we are going to do when we are in the council with a majority, we want to open the books.

“A lot will be behind the maths, behind the numbers, we want to return the council back to basics delivering what people want.

“There has been too much of a steer from the Combined Authority and central government about what the local authority should be spending money on.”

Reform’s current leader in Dudley Council is Cllr Shaun Keasey. He said: “I would challenge you to find anyone across Dudley to say Dudley is better now than it was eight, ten or 20 years ago.

“It’s all ridiculous, we need to do the things people expect their local authority to do, potholes, bins, provide facilities for a tip, make sure the grass is cut, play areas for young people.”

On complex and expensive issues like social care Reform will look into what services the council must provide by law as a starting point.

Mr Longhi said: “We would do a root and branch review of what we need to provide from a legal perspective, every council has to provide service at a certain level, clearly some local authorities are doing this better than others.

“Once we get in and find out what’s being provided we can benchmark it against the best in the country and see what we can do differently.”

Reform already has control of nearby councils where the party has attracted criticism.

Worcestershire County Council is run by a minority Reform administration and this year approved a nine percent council tax increase which was described by Conservatives as ‘scandalous’.

Mr Longhi said:  “If you look at Worcestershire maybe they made promises in advance and when they found out the level of incompetence that was left behind for them, maybe it wasn’t wise to make that sort of commitment, which is why I’m not going to make any sort of specific commitments – I’m giving you a direction of travel.

“Why don’t we talk about Reform councils that have saved a lot of money and done well?”

Cllr Keasey added: “Look at the recent meningitis outbreak in Kent. Who runs Kent? Reform, they dealt with it really well.”

Mr Longhi said: “Shaun and I are ruthlessly focused on Dudley; judge us by what we deliver when we manage to take control of Dudley Council.

“Why judge us on examples of councils 20 or 120 miles away – it’s meaningless.”