Local elections are typically a temperature check on the Government of the day, but the recent May elections appear to have changed the weather and shifted dynamics of British politics – locally and nationally. Whoever the loser was from this set of local elections there was one clear winner: Reform UK.
They won 677 councillors, taking control of 10 councils and winning two Mayoralties, giving the party its first taste of power in local government.
Despite Reform’s by-election win in Runcorn and the Mayoral victories claiming most of the headlines, it is the less high-profile elections in councils across England that have an impact on people’s lives – as local government is often the part of the state that people interact with the most.
But whilst Reform UK is often seen as synonymous with anti-immigration rhetoric, such as “stop the boats”, local and regional government have almost no control on these matters.
Instead, it will have responsibility – and accountability – for the day-to-day running of essential services crucial to the basic needs of people’s lives such as road maintenance, social care and waste services.
Reform has also made a name for itself by taking a strong position on Net Zero and its ambition to end government waste on what it sees as ‘unnecessary’ spending on things like diversity, equality and inclusion (DE&I) initiatives.
However, when it comes to waste and recycling, Farage’s party has not released any detailed policy positions on its plans for these services. The most insight we have had so far came from the General Election manifesto, which said:
“We can protect our environment with more tree planting, more recycling and less single use plastics.”
While the dust is still settling on the local elections, and new leaders and councillors get their feet under the table, it is still unclear exactly how the politics will inform the policy.
Regionally, Mayors may lead partnerships to look at ways of improving services and creating efficiencies, especially where waste and recycling is split across two-tier areas, such as district councils collecting from kerbsides and county councils doing the recycling and waste management.
However, this could easily just come down to personality rather than politics, and where waste and recycling sits on constituents’ priority list. For example, will new council leaders be pragmatic in the interests of efficiency and reform, even if that means that they give up ownership of an issue or service?
Given the issues Reform UK care about, it is unlikely they got involved in politics to pore over waste management contracts, or make decisions about household waste recycling centres.
Reform UK may have surged to prominence on the back of national discontent and sharp slogans, but its new mandate lies not in border control, but in recycling centres.
Many commentators have questioned whether the party will be able to translate its populist energy into pragmatic governance. Will it confront the complexities of waste contracts and recycling targets, or will they falter under the weight of procurement and planning? Being in control is far harder than being in Opposition criticising from the side-lines – and people care about their bin collections – just ask the people of Birmingham, or Green councillors in Brighton who lost their seats in 2023 because of their party’s performance on waste and recycling. The bins, not the boats, may be where their electoral success in future elections is decided
