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Spotlight
With six weeks to go until Local Elections, political campaigns across the country are getting into full swing, and candidates are being confirmed.
In what will be the first democratic test for Labour since they came into power last July, the latest polls predict some fairly seismic shifts across the board, including Reform taking control of six councils.
More on that below, as well as the latest on the Spring Budget, Reform infighting, and a council where meetings have become so toxic the police have been called.
Significant changes ahead as Local Elections loom
Furious Reform Row and Leaked WhatsApps
In a month where leaked top-secret correspondence from top US officials has dominated the headlines, it was leaked WhatsApp messages from Nigel Farage MP which caused a storm in local UK political circles, as part of the ferocious Reform infighting.
Rupert Lowe MP managed a whole 8 months as a Reform MP before having the whip withdrawn in March, in what has become a sensational fallout at the very top of the Reform party - just 6 weeks before local elections.
The series of WhatsApps messages shared by a former Lowe colleague show Farage labelling Lowe as 'disgusting' and 'contemptible' for his comments to the Daily Mail in which he said Reform was a "protest party" led by "the Messiah".
"These messages unquestionably prove the Reform leadership has zero integrity. Nigel Farage must never become prime minister." Lowe went on to say.
Not the most ringing endorsement for the party from one of its five original MPs, but it doesn't seem to be making the slightest dent in their popularity. In fact...(see below
Reform's Local Council Coup?
Reform UK could take control of four local councils in the upcoming May elections, according to a recent poll. Derbyshire, Durham, Doncaster, Kent, Thurrock and Suffolk are all predicted to become Reform strongholds, despite some of those areas having no current Reform councillors, according to the poll.
The survey of 5,400 voters, conducted earlier this month, predicts a brutal night for the Conservatives with “significant losses” expected right across England.
Kent County Council, one of the largest councils in that group, is particularly vulnerable, with the Electoral Calculus poll suggesting Reform UK is set to seize control from the Tories there. Kent County Councillor Andrew Kennedy has already dismissed the numbers as “out of date,” claiming internal polling shows a late swing back to the Conservatives.
A sign of Reform’s growing grassroots strength, or yet another polling mirage? Either way, we're in for an intriguing election campaign.
Reeves still looking for Spring bounce
After 8 months of delivering 'difficult' messages about the country's financial woes to the public, Rachel Reeves MP is well practiced in breaking bad news. So the Spring Statement yesterday in which Reeves said tougher measures are required to plug the fiscal gap, after a Treasury watchdog halved 2025 growth forecast - confirmed what many had feared.
It wasn't all doom and gloom though, thanks to an unexpected helping hand from Angela Rayner MP. The Deputy PM’s Planning & Infrastructure Bill will mean "170,000 new homes by the end of this parliament", "billions in extra tax revenue", and a £500-a-year boost to living standards, according to the OBR.
Reeves was quick to hail it as a rare win in an otherwise tricky economic outlook. Growth forecasts are now averaging just 1.6% a year, making this one of the slowest-growing parliaments in recent history.
With tax levels still heading for a postwar high, Reeves has little fiscal room to manoeuvre, and the difficult economic news will keep coming. But at least Rayner’s planning reforms are giving Labour *something* to cheer about.
Teignbridge Turmoil: Council Told to Behave Itself
Chaos at Teignbridge District Council, in a sleepy corner of Devon hit new heights this month, with external auditors branding it “totally unacceptable, eroding public trust and risking bringing the council into disrepute."
A damning report exposed swearing, shouting, mic-muting, councillors storming out of meetings, and even physical confrontations.
Grant Thornton, the auditors behind the review, warned that years of infighting have shattered public trust in the council. The solution? An independent expert to restore order and a ban on badly-behaved councillors from policing standards.
With one councillor calling the atmosphere “toxic” and another decrying a “catastrophic schism,” Teignbridge now faces a simple choice: clean up its act or or face a permanent spot on the naughty step from Central Government!
Author
Daniel Fryd
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