Political opinion with John Milne MP: Who were the real winners in the local elections?

After what seemed like the longest slow-motion car crash in history, the May local elections have delivered the trouncing for Labour and the Conservatives we all expected. Across England, Reform have been the main beneficiaries followed by the Greens and the Liberal Democrats.

For the Lib Dems, this represents 8 years of continuous gains in local elections. I would argue that no one is better at putting their local community first and foremost.

The Lib Dems won 23 seats at County Hall, an increase of 13 on last time. We also won all 16 seats we contested in the new Horsham Parish (Town) Council, with the remaining two going to the Conservatives. Sadly, in the by-election for Horsham District Council at Itchingfield, Slinfold and Warnham, Ed Skeates missed out by just 16 votes!

The Conservatives managed to delay their fate by cancelling the WSCC elections last year, but reality has finally caught up with them. The Lib Dems and Reform are left level pegging on 23 seats each. The Conservatives are down to 11, while the Greens have 7, Labour 5, and there’s 1 Independent.

No party has an overall majority, so it’s everyone’s duty to negotiate and form a workable administration, even if that involves difficult partnerships. As I write, the most likely outcome would seem to be a ‘Rainbow Alliance’ consisting of the Lib Dems, the Greens and Labour.

The real issues in the election should have been potholes, Special Educational Needs and adult social care. But in practice, it was dominated by national issues that local councils have no power over, such as immigration and Palestine. Above all, it ended up as a referendum on Keir Starmer personally.

The new kids on the block, Reform, have already had a year in control of councils elsewhere in the country. They didn’t find the tremendous waste on diversity and net zero spending they were expecting – it simply doesn’t exist. Nor have they been able to cut bills. In Worcestershire, the new Reform council had to raise taxes by 9%, almost twice the normal limit.

As an ex-local councillor myself, I’m not surprised to see Reform councils struggling in the same way as their predecessors. Ever-decreasing government support for councils means there’s nothing else left down the back of the sofa.

Above all, I’d like to congratulate all the new councillors, and I wish them well in their new roles. I will do my best to support them wherever I can.