Tackling potholes and 'cutting waste' at the top of the priority list as Reform UK's Robert Jenrick visits Hampshire
Reform UK are continuing their election campaigning in Hampshire
Robert Jenrick has toured Hampshire to “drum up support” for Reform UK before next week’s local elections.
With nine days to go until the local elections, Mr Jenrick said he visited to boost his party’s profile and “send a message that it’s time to get rid of Keir Starmer”.
Mr Jenrick met with local candidates in Waterlooville before visiting Havant and Portsmouth in a whistle-stop tour of the area which also included Sussex. It follows a growth in the number of Reform local councillors with a number of former Tory Havant borough councillors defecting to join the party, as well as Portsmouth Independent Party city councillors.
The MP for Newark himself also defected to Reform UK in January this year from the Conservative Party, where he held cabinet roles in housing, immigration and the Treasury.
Priorities
During his Hampshire visit he said the local issues he has heard from supporters are the “appalling state of the roads that have been left to degrade with potholes for years and years – and people have had enough.
“You see that all over the country but its very prevalent here,” he said.
He added that Reform is prioritising “finding waste” in local government spending to lower council tax “than Conservative or Labour run councils”.
Nationally, he said that the party’s priorities are securing borders, being “tough on crime”, tackling the cost of living and “fighting for real change”.
Council tax
In the last few weeks, Reform UK has pivoted its pledges to cut or freeze council tax to a strategy of ensuring council tax rises are lower than those run by other parties.
Reform candidates previously pledged to freeze or cut council tax, however Reform-run councils in Doncaster, Kent and Derbyshire have approved increases.
Other Reform-led councils, such as Worcestershire County Council, are facing potential bankruptcy, with the prospect of council tax being raised by up to ten per cent.
Opponents have argued that the party has broken its promise on council tax. Mr Jenrick said taxes had to be raised “because the services are under huge strain, it’s very difficult to do otherwise, but always less than Conservative or Labour run councils”.
Local Government Reorganisation (LGR)
The government’s Local Government Reorganisation would merge councils in Portsmouth, Gosport, Fareham and Havant into one large unitary authority.
This would replace the two tier system, where county and district councils share services, with large unitaries providing all services to populations of around 500,000.
Mr Jenrick said he is “very skeptical about it”.
“It’s very dangerous when you lose local democracy and it becomes more remote for local people and you’ve got these mega council than can be miles and miles away from local people even more out of touch than the councils that we have in many parts of the country today.”
He added that if in power, his party “may” hold local referendums on the proposals and “if there’s no appetite for it in Hampshire then we’ll oppose it”.
Keir Starmer
The Local Democracy Reporting Service asked Mr Jenrick if encouraging Reform votes to “get rid of Keir Starmer” was misleading, with next week’s elections being about local councils and not central government. So, as a result it does not directly affect his role as Prime Minister.
In response Mr Jenrick said that if Reform do well on a local level “we will send the most almighty message to Labour members of parliament that they have got to ditch Keir Starmer”.
He added it could be “the beginning of the end” of Mr Starmer before the party sets a path for the general election.
In response, Amanda Martin, Labour MP for Portsmouth North said: “As the former Tory immigration minister who presided over the failed open borders experiment, Robert Jenrick needs to start being honest with people.
“Reform UK’s vile leaflets distributed around our city point to ‘700 boat people in Portsmouth’ – they’re referring to the outcomes from the broken asylum system Jenrick was responsible for.
“You can’t shape the system and then campaign against it as if you had nothing to do with it.“
Portsmouth people won’t stand for hypocrisy. Robert Jenrick should apologise for attempting to gaslight local residents in this way, and to everyone here who he and his Tory mates failed for years.”
Stephen Morgan MP for Portsmouth South said these local elections were ‘about making the right choice for your family’ - with key local services set to suffer is Reform UK succeed in the polls.
He said: “Labour chooses support to families with the cost of living, the right choice for the NHS, as we get it back on its feet, and the right choice for your community, as we back community policing and continue with our £5 billion Pride in Place fund.
“Reform are against all of that and their record in local government speaks for itself - councils failing working people and failing communities.
“They don’t believe in the NHS - they want to cut it, and Nigel Farage says he wants to replace it with an insurance system. They want to slash public services and hand massive tax cuts to the richest. They want to scrap the Online Safety Act that keeps children and adults safer online.
“There is lots done under this Labour government and there is much more to do. We will never stop fighting for working people and families.”