Reform UK lost one newly-elected councillor every three days since May, new tracker reveals

Reform has shed an average of one new councillor every three days since the local elections in May, pro-EU campaign group Best for Britain has revealed.

The campaign group has launched the new tracker just weeks after a leaked Reform training presentation warned activists that “the biggest threat to Reform is people in it and itself”.

The presentation also said: “It’s not the Tories, it’s not Labour, the establishment is going to throw everything at us. The biggest chance of things going wrong is stuff like infighting, stuff like people just saying and doing stupid stuff. That’s our biggest risk.”

Best for Britain has so far recorded 35 councillor suspensions and resignations since 7 May this year, and will continue to update the tracker as changes occur.

While Labour, the Green Party and Lib Dems also lose councillors to resignations and suspensions, many of Reform’s councillor losses stem from basic vetting failures.

Among those listed in the tracker is Glenn Gibbins, a Reform councillor in Sunderland who has been suspended twice.

Shortly after he was elected in May, Reform suspended Gibbins pending an investigation into an offensive social media post he wrote about Nigerians. 

Reform readmitted him to the party in June, and then suspended him again recently after police charged him in connection with the post.

Another Reform councillor on the list is Dave Rowan. Reform suspended him earlier this month over social media posts calling for the former Commons speaker John Bercow to be hanged and saying that there are “too many Muslims”. 

Alex Clarke, a Reform councillor who stepped down from South Tyneside Council in June, said he had been mis-sold the role and thought he would only need to attend six meetings a year.

Naomi Smith, Chief Executive at Best for Britain, said: “Whether they’ve resigned, been suspended, or were simply never up to the job, Reform UK have been shedding councillors ever since May. So much for the tidal wave about to break over British politics, this is a party that would struggle to run a bath.

“They’re now losing a councillor every three days. Little wonder Reform UK themselves have warned activists their own officials are the ‘biggest threat’ the party faces. On this evidence, it’s hard to disagree.”

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward