“We get elected, we do what we say,” vowed Gawain Towler, a Reform UK board member, after the party won more than 677 new councillors at last year’s local elections. Other Reform leaders were similarly bullish about their capabilities. “We’re pretty high-agency people,” said Zia Yusuf, then the party’s chair.
So a year on, what’s happened?
Council tax is increasing in every local authority under Reform’s control, contrary to the party’s election leaflets that unambiguously promised freezes or cuts. In Worcestershire, it is rising by 9%, an amount so large that it required government approval.
