Mailwatch(ed) Forum

Watchman wrote: ↑Fri May 02, 2025 1:57 pm They are going to shat themselves when they find out what running a country council actually involves

Absolutely. Getting rid of the diversity and equality officer and the vegan/halal sandwiches in the town hall coffee shop isn't going to stop the boats.

Enormous Reform majority in Durham too, gaining 49 seats off Labour.

Reform UK have published a manifesto proposing £90 billion of tax cuts including raising the inheritance tax threshold to £2 million, reducing corporation tax to 15%, lifting the income tax personal allowance to £20,000 and the higher rate threshold to £70,000.

Sounds like a platform to pour money into County Durham pockets.

Lib Dems have done well in Devon, and could govern with help from the Greens. Doubtless they can do business on not building those houses there.

Reform have won 24 seats off the Tories in Worcestershire. I wonder how long Badenoch can survive.

Watchman wrote: ↑Fri May 02, 2025 1:57 pm They are going to shat themselves when they find out what running a country council actually involves

I wish that were going to be true.

One very big item for councils is special needs education. Reform will just say it's all bollocks, most of them are just badly behaved, but the government makes us spend your money on them.

Still over 4 years to go, of course, but this really couldn't have been much worse, apart from the Lib Dems doing well.

Reform are going to win Kent and Lancashire too.

Relative sanity in Gloucestershire.

Running councils, any Muppet can do that, common sense innit?

It will, sooner or later they will slip up and they won't be able to get away with it.

Peterborough mayoralty went Conservative to its former MP, Paul Bristow; Lincolnshire County Council has gone to Reform *but* interestingly, the result of my little bit of Lincolnshire has changed markedly since 2021 from a two-horse race, with two hundred folk voting Labour for the first time.

The Cambs Labour mayor withdrawing just before the race didn't help. Made a hash of his term by all accounts and was a sort of anti politics candidate. Trust me I'm a doctor not one of these terrible professional politicians. Don't see much point in a Cambs metro mayor, there's no common economic geography between Cambridge, Peterborough or the places in-between.

Youngian wrote: ↑Fri May 02, 2025 4:57 pm The Cambs Labour mayor withdrawing just before the race didn't help. Made a hash of his term by all accounts and was a sort of anti politics candidate. Trust me I'm a doctor not one of these terrible professional politicians. Don't see much point in a Cambs metro mayor, there's no common economic geography between Cambridge, Peterborough or the places in-between.

Very true.

Tubby Isaacs wrote: ↑Fri May 02, 2025 2:44 pm Reform have an enormous majority in Staffordshire now. Won 49 seats, including 43 from the Tories.

In Lincolnshire, 44 out of the 70 seats went to Reform, taking 40 from the Tories.

And 35.8% of the voters in Hull and East Yorkshire thought it would be a good idea to elect a member of the racist-fascist manfrog cult to be our mayor.

A big Well Done to every one of those fucking morons.

A small bit of comfort comes from the fact that 64.2% aren't that fucking stupid (though the cunting Tory candidate did come second).

It’s easy being an absentee MP, spend all your time in Westminster (or Mar-a-Largo), but now your “one of the people” with no place to hide when said “people” are on your doorstep demanding to know why their bins haven’t been emptied

Yug wrote: ↑Fri May 02, 2025 5:26 pm And 35.8% of the voters in Hull and East Yorkshire thought it would be a good idea to elect a member of the racist-fascist manfrog cult to be our mayor.

The numbers are getting to the point where it ceases to be a cult and starts to become a religion.

When Reform councillors and mayors do fuck up, Farage will be blaming woke civil servants for plotting against them.

As I predicted Derbyshire County Council has swung overwhelmingly to Reform. This is not great news for me given that I started working for Derbyshire Country Council on a short-term contract. On the plus side schools did manage to survive under 8 years of the Tories running the council so we might just survive 4 years under Farage's fascists.

Youngian wrote: ↑Fri May 02, 2025 6:15 pm When Reform councillors and mayors do fuck up, Farage will be blaming woke civil servants for plotting against them.

But of course - it's always someone else's fault and attack is the best form of self-defence.

Reform have been successful because Labour have failed to deliver on the ground. They cannot keep blaming the Conservatives for the problems this country is in.

Byline Times puts it more bluntly:
https://bylinetimes.com/2025/05/02/loca ... ervatives/

Reform have proved they can win anywhere. Whatever your view of them, I think it's time to start taking them very seriously.