Reform Manchester mayoral candidate uses campaign video to promote Reform donor

Sian Astley, Reform’s candidate in the Manchester mayoral election, has made a campaign video about potholes in which she promoted JCB pothole machines.

This is despite the mayor not being responsible for upkeep of the roads, and comes after Reform UK received a £200,000 donation from JCB Bamford Excavators Ltd on 3 November 2025.

In the video, Astley said “Shall we play a little game? Shall we play count the potholes?”.

“Honestly potholes, potholes hell!,” she said.

Astley then said: “A Reform mayor will be buying some of those big JCB magnificent machines. Pothole fillers? I can’t remember what they’re called.”

She added: “We need some of those in Greater Manchester to sort out our roads.”

However, in reality, Greater Manchester roads are managed by local councils, not the mayor. 

Furthermore, Astley did not just argue that more needed to be done to repair roads, she specifically promoted JCB’s “magnificent” pothole-fixing machine, the Pothole Pro.

One social media user commented: “Sian knows that the Mayor has no jurisdiction over pot holes. She just wanted to bring you a word from her paying sponsors before being forced to slope off in ignominy when the results of the Mayoral election is announced.”

The chair of J.C. Bamford Excavators Ltd, Lord Anthony Bamford, has been a longstanding donor to the Conservative party and individual Tory MPs, and has now started to donate to Reform. 

In a statement last November, JCB said it had given the Tories and Reform £200,000 each because both parties “believe in small business”. 

Days after Reform received the donation, the Reform council leader in Warwickshire, George Finch, said he had visited the JCB headquarters.

On social media, he posted a video of himself in front of a JCB Pothole Pro, in which he described the device as “wonderful”, adding: “We’ve seen demonstrations of how they cut potholes effectively, with low costs and quicker times for residents.” 

In February this year, Reform MP Robert Jenrick also visited JCB HQ, and trumpeted on social media about how it is “one of our greatest businesses, creating jobs across the country”. 

Reform-run Nottinghamshire County Council, which covers Jenrick’s constituency of Newark, has since leased two Pothole Pro machines for a total cost of £132,000 for a 12-month trial. 

The Reform leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, Mick Barton, told the BBC: “These are the best bet on the market”, adding “I know they will work in Nottinghamshire”.

This is despite the previous Conservative administration having carried out a trial with the Pothole Pro machines in 2021, after which council officers concluded that they weren’t “worthwhile”.

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward