Reform UK may only have five councilors at Preston City Council following May’s local elections, but it’s also true that no party acquired more votes than them.
Whatever your views on Reform UK – and they vary wildly from thinking they are the only option for British politics to wanting to see literally any other party in power – for them to get more votes than anyone in Preston is an achievement.
Preston City Council has been under Labour control for well over a decade at this stage – although that is now a minority control. In the 2024 general election, it was not Reform UK that pushed Mark Hendrick closest but an independent candidate in Michael Lavalette. It is not a city that has ever been affiliated in any serious manner with a party to the right of the Conservatives.
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And that all amounts to Reform UK being a serious electoral force in Preston – for the moment at least.
Arguably the biggest achievement for Reform UK in those local elections was Jemma Rushe taking the Liberal Democrats seat in Lea and Larches – by six votes. A number of Reform UK councillors can be characterised by a clear focus on national issues above local ones – you’ll not be surprised to hear that immigration is chief among them – but the new Cllr Rushe was visible and vocal locally well before being elected.
Already she has raised her voice on behalf of the residents living close to a development by Bloor Homes on the edge of Lea.
She told Blog Preston: “On the east of the estate, they’ve had absolute hell through unsociable working hours, the pilling, damage to their houses, trees ripped down.
“People feel extremely fed up but I don’t understand how it has gotten to this point and nobody has gone down there. They feel ignored by the council. And they accept that it’s a building site and they can’t do anything about it. They’ve put up with noise for two or three years and they’re at the end of their tether.”
Entering local politics, and a local authority, for the first time can be a daunting thing. There are new processes to learn, people to meet and, in some cases, tolerate. There is a wait for an email address so you can start to engage with residents.
Rushe said: “It feels a little bit strange. The first one we went into we were all dressed up in robes because it was the mayor making. Then the first full council meeting involved a lot of named voting, thanks to Cllr Potter [Lib Dem leader], and getting used to the processes but I enjoyed it.
“The other parties are obviously going to push back on anything we try to do. Nobody is going to support us and we are on our own. If anyone is going to team up, you’d probably expect Labour and the Greens.”
There are unusual circumstances by which we come to interview Cllr Rushe and her party leader Cllr Stephen Thompson. It started as an open invitation – via Jemma – to every Reform councillor so we could hear more about their plans and priorities. The others did not attend – mirroring their lack of engagement on the same topics during the local election campaigning period. Cllr Thompson was not invited – because this was about interviewing new councillors – but he came anyway.
Cllr Rushe says she worked hard during the election cycle. She says that she is a regular at PACT meetings and at the community hub and, ultimately, that is what allowed her to give the Lib Dems an unexpected bloody nose.
Cllr Thompson, meanwhile, suggests that they were too keen to unseat him and took their eye off the ball.
He says: “I think the Liberals put in a hell of a lot of effort to try and get my head. But I’ve been there a long time and that’s important. But they have always been good at local campaigns.”
If that sounds like an unexpected compliment to a party that has been described as the most anti-Reform UK group, don’t get ahead of yourself.
He continues: “When I was in the Conservatives, the one thing we had in common with Labour is that we didn’t particularly like the Liberals. I respect Labour because they have their point of view, and we have ours, and that’s who we are. But the Liberals flip-flop around a bit, sit on the fence a bit, so I don’t have much respect for them.”
Both believe that their role as one of the smaller parties is now to ensure that Labour are ‘held to account’ for their decisions. Cllr Rushe describes investment in the North West Mutual Bank as an ‘absolute waste of money’. Cllr Thompson suggests that it might work but the role of a local authority is not to help establish a bank.
Both describe the Guild Hall as important but want to see the options from feasibility studies. Cllr Thompson says maybe Preston needs ‘something a bit more niche and smaller’.
Cllr Rushe says: “Having been to pantomimes and so on, I’d love it if we could keep it. But we don’t know until we see the options. We don’t know what’s feasible.
“But it’s important, and it would contribute to nightlife in Preston massively. I’ve been taking mine to Manchester the last couple of years – but I’d rather not. We need a venue.“
And it’s a similar tale with local government reorganisation – where Preston City Council will be abolished and replaced with a larger authority. But Cllr Rushe would like to see Preston City Council remain as it is compared to Cllr Thompson who acknowledges the need for change.
Cllr Rushe is critical of Preston city centre – describing the regenerated area around the market as ‘fabulous’ but citing issues around empty shops, barber shops, e-bikes and homelessness. Unsurprisingly, they’ve little time for the ‘Preston Model’ – the idea that wealth should circulate in the local economy rather than losing it to big corporate businesses.
She says: “I get if you go down near the market it’s fabulous, but as soon as you step away from it, not so much. The Preston Model is just Matthew Brown, really.”
Cllr Thompson describes The Preston Model as ‘inconsistent’ and cites the food traders at the BBC Radio 2 in the Park event as his example.
He says: “Some of them came from down south, well outside of the Preston Model.”
When it is pointed out that Preston City Council might not be able to dictate the food traders attending a BBC event, he continues: “Has the wealth of Preston increased for the average person? That’s what it is supposed to be doing. In theory it sounds like a great idea, but in practice, it’s not working. On some levels it does, but the overall benefit is quite small.”
It is borderline impossible to sit with Reform UK councillors and for the topic not to end up on immigration. That’s hardly outrageous in itself – the issue is clearly something of great importance to voters. It is when discussing the challenges around HMOs that the topic first comes up.
Cllr Rushe said: “People aren’t whinging about people coming here to contribute. But when there are groups of men in properties, it’s causing problems. When schools are sending out emails about children’s safety, that’s when people are getting upset.
“You don’t want people fanning the flames where anybody who walks near a school is accused of something, but on the other hand you’ve got people scared of saying something because they’ll be accused of stoking up tensions. It’s about finding a middle ground and it’s important that we, as councillors, can speak with police and speak with residents and not do it through shouting on Facebook.”
That’s a little bit contradictory in that people are clearly not shy about posting on Facebook – the ability to do so anonymously has only encouraged that. A number of reports – but not all – regarding alleged crimes by asylum seekers turn out to be false and made in bad faith. Others do not involve asylum seekers whatsoever.
The most recurring criticism of Reform UK is that either they, or some of their policies, could be construed as racist. Neither councillor baulks or backs away when asked that question directly.
Cllr Rushe said: “No. I have never been racist to anyone in my life, I have never met anyone in Reform who has been racist.
“Maybe they do exist, they potentially could. I have had racist abuse myself though.”
Cllr Thompson, however, deflects. He says no but adds: “But let me ask you a question – do you think that the Labour Party are not racist given the amount of anti-semitism? And given the amount of double standards from two-tier Keir going on at the moment?”
He adds, unprompted: “I am married to an ethnic minority.” He laughs when we point out that doesn’t mean that someone can’t be racist.
We ask next about how Reform UK chooses to express its outrage. Multiple Reform UK councillors in Lancashire – including Cllr Rushe – have posted to Facebook to express concern about the case of Henry Nowak – an 18-year-old murdered by Vickrum Digwa in Southampton. Nowak was arrested as he lay dying and had been accused of racism by Digwa.
But at the time of asking the question, none or few had posted about the harrowing case of Preston Davey. The question is not asked because people should feel obliged to post about all cases – but rather to interrogate why one thing makes a post and another doesn’t.
Cllr Rushe said: “I tell you now, anyone who saw the videos from Belfast or in Southampton, would be angry. The fact that these things are there in plain sight, people are going to react.
“It’s not selective, these are the things that are making the news or on social media for whatever. If you showed me the same video from a white man, my reaction would be exactly the same.
“Maybe it comes back to social media and what it puts in people’s feeds. But I’d ask people why they are not reacting?”
Cllr Rushe has since posted about Preston Davey, saying she hopes the child’s adoptive fathers ‘never see the light of day’.
Cllr Thompson adds: “Do we really need to import all of these people when they come from backgrounds that are more violent? If their culture is not compatible with western values?”
An issue Cllr Rushe raises on a number of occasions during the interview is the safety of women and children – something she considers to be a priority. Earlier, when discussing the social media ban announced on the same day, she shows reluctant support for the Keir Starmer policy and says: “Anything that makes children safer is better. How they implement it, I don’t know. But in principle, anything to keep kids safe, I back. But I don’t like banning stuff outright.”
But during our discussion those points about the safety of women and children are regularly conflated with illegal immigration. When we point out that the most common trait of any person found to be a danger to either is not ethnicity or race, but rather that they are male, they don’t flinch.
Cllr Rushe said: “Well that’s just the genetics of it.”
Cllr Thompson adds: “A lot of our problems in this country – housing, health service, violence – it’s illegal immigration that affects all of them. And we need to have an honest conversation about it.”
Speaking of honest conversations, Cllr Thompson goes on to say that only 24% of asylum claims are accepted in France compared to 74% in the UK. The UK number is actually 42% at the initial decision stage compared to 27-37% in France by the same metric.
If this feels like we have moved away from talking about Preston to talking about national issues, that reflects how it felt in real time. People in Preston do care about immigration, but it is not something that Cllr Rushe or Thompson can impact in any meaningful way right now.
The topics of the New Hall Lane bus lane and Corporation Street bus gate have been controversial for Reform UK. Lancashire County Council is under Reform UK control and they have made the decision to keep the schemes – and the significant revenue they continue to generate – in place.
Cllr Thompson says: “There’s a lot of people who think the bus lanes and gates should be scrapped. But they wanted to improve public transport, and I’ve been assured that they do make a difference to buses running efficiently.
“New Hall Lane has a lot of serial offenders and people are not learning their lessons. People want efficient bus services and now there’s certain people saying we don’t want them?”
We point out that Reform UK member and multiple-time candidate Lee Slater is one of those people.
Cllr Thompson adds: “Yeah Lee says that as well. But he’s an internal issue.”
He continues: “I try not to go against what County are saying. I take note of what people think but I’ve joined a party and I won’t undermine them. I will continue to support that party because I’ve been presented with the data. People don’t want a second tax, but that’s easy to say if they keep offending.”
Reform UK have, however, campaigned against bus gates and lanes in various elections across the country. We ask if he would be moved to a different viewpoint if Reform UK did not have its hands on the till.
Rushe says, clearly facetiously: “Yeah we’d be getting the drums out. I’m just messing.”
Thompson adds: “All we would do is review the evidence.”
Blog Preston interviewed Reform UK as part of efforts to allow residents to get to know new councillors. We plan to interview the new Green Party councillors next.
