Watch: Reform’s would-be new Kirklees council leader doesn’t understand… anything much

Kirklees council remains leaderless after councillors were unable to choose at a meeting yesterday; Reform are the biggest party, but short of a majority. Labour was wiped out in this month’s local elections.

But the meeting saw some comedy as Reform UK’s would-be leader had to admit that neither she nor her 28 councillors understood what they were voting for. Or anything else, really:

@kirkleesgreenparty Councillor Sarah Wood – Reform’s choice to lead Kirklees Council apparently doesn’t understand how the Council runs #huddersfield #westyorkshire ♬ original sound – Kirklees Green Party

Reform farce

Wood and her party objected that the votes on council processes were “unconstitutional”, because none of them understood anything. Cllr Tanisha Bramwell of the left-leaning Kirklees Community Independents group pointed out to Wood that it’s her job as a councillor and group leader to familiarise herself and her colleagues with what being a councillor involves, not the job of others to educate them:

When you are elected you have to prioritise educating yourself on how to be the best councillor and representative for your area, that is on you. To call that unconstitutional is absolutely incorrect and it is not right.

At one point, 27 councillors voted against making the council’s votes proportional – something normally rubber-stamped – then changed their minds and voted for it. The council will reconvene on Thursday 28 May to vote again.

Reform chaos

Reform’s chaos hasn’t been limited to Kirklees. Councillors have had to resign or are being investigated for sharing Nazi flags and making white supremacist and/or Islamophobic comments. In one case, a new councillor made comments about melting Nigerian people down to fill potholes. He has only been “temporarily” axed.

But even if Reform councillors manage to avoid racism scandals (so far), they’ve shown an inability to actually run anything. Not just an inability, but an apparent disinterest in even giving it a proper go.

Take Kent council as an example. Reform took control of it in 2025, promising to mount a ‘DOGE’-style programme of cuts to reduce waste and save money. Reform councillors then couldn’t find any savings to make – so they made them up and quickly got found out. That’s actually very ‘DOGE-like’, but not in any kind of way to boast about.

In Derbyshire, one of Reform’s first acts in control was to “betray local people” by closing care homes – presumably ones that looked after some of their older base. Reform in Lancashire planned to privatise the council’s privately-run care homes but had to back down after outraged locals rose up against the plan.

In Durham, a Reform councillor wanted to cut council workers’ pay to fund his own pay rise. And in Lincolnshire, former Tory Andrea Jenkyns – now Reform mayor – campaigned on a promise to cut “woke wastage”. She then immediately asked for a massive increase in funding for her own office. To justify this, she listed a string of issues that… are not the mayor’s job.

No surprises here

Reform is awful at government. Unsurprising given the jokers that populate it. Let’s be clear, Labour councils are often no better and just as corrupt. Neither party is a solution to the massive ills inflicted on the UK by red and blue Tory governments and having either of them in national government is a catastrophe.

But regardless, let’s enjoy the little rays of sunshine when they all show themselves up, at least. Hopefully the country – including the racism-challenged currently supporting them – wakes up in time to avoid either disaster next time round.

Featured image via Getty/Dan Kitwood