How are Reform’s new councillors doing? They’re not even showing up

By Harry Shukman

Last month, one of Reform’s loudest supporters stuck his neck out for the party. The spin doctor Gawain Towler hoped that the hundreds of newly-elected councillors are doing a good job. Voters, he said, “expect them to be competent and just a bit better than the last lot… they expect them to try”. 

So are Reform’s councillors trying?

The evidence is mounting that they aren’t just bad at their jobs — they haven’t even been showing up.

This week, two news stories landed about Reform councillors being absent. On the Isle of Wight, Councillor David Maclean has resigned after missing three meetings of the children’s services committee. And in Cornwall, Councillor Christine Parsonage — who lives 45 miles away from the Newquay Town Council she sits on — hasn’t attended a single meeting since the May elections.

They aren’t the only ones who have been shirking. Most local authorities publish attendance records for their councillors, which HOPE not hate has been reading. It does not look good.

We have seen instances where Reform’s officials — even ones with major responsibilities — are not coming to meetings on important matters.

Rachel Reed, for instance, is a senior councillor for Reform in Doncaster. She missed a July meeting of the overview and scrutiny management committee that she chairs — the subject was the city giving a million pounds in a scheme to prevent youth crime. This is unfortunate timing: Reform is currently running a six-week “Summer of Crime” campaign to promote its law and order policies. Councillor Reed also missed a meeting of the regeneration and housing panel that she sits on — the agenda included making sure families have sufficient access to council housing.

Meanwhile at Staffordshire County Council, Councillor Craig Humphreyson — vice-chair of the pensions committee — has missed three of seven meetings since he was elected, including the audit and standards committee, which discussed how to avoid fraud and ensure council funds are properly spent.

We have even found examples where Reform councillors have missed more meetings than they have attended. In Staffordshire, a councillor called Michael Carver has only attended one meeting since the May elections. He has also missed both meetings of the health and care committee that he sits on. The June and July meetings that Carver did not attend discussed how to improve cardiac services and healthcare for pregnant women.

One Reform politician we identified — Councillor Dean Truder, representing Swanley in Kent — has yet to go to a single meeting. He sits on the planning applications committee, which at its last meeting in July discussed construction plans at a wastewater treatment site and a school sports pitch. Despite never having attended a council meeting (at least, according to the council’s own website) Truder has been entitled to pocket £2,623.69 of taxpayer-funded salary. “Reform UK will slash wasteful spending,” pledges the party’s manifesto. Perhaps it could listen to its own promises?

Of course, councillors tend to work other jobs and won’t always be able to come to every single meeting, and we have certainly seen evidence of absent politicians from other parties. Reform, however, is trying to present itself as the party of getting things done and slashing council waste. It has even launched the Department of Local Government Efficiency to reduce bureaucracy. You can’t make efficiencies if you don’t even show up.

Zia Yusuf, a key figure in Reform and ex-chairman, told a newspaper this month that his party will provide “an embarrassment of talent”. How accurate he was.