Reform to what?
I will start with a promise, to myself more than anyone else, that the next thing I write for the CA-WN Exchange will return to the subjects of local transport, pedestrianisation and localism. Subjects that I believe are essential not only to the green cause but to the prosperity of West Northamptonshire. This article will unashamedly not address these subjects but will instead add another voice reflecting upon the election of our new council which now has a Reform majority.
I back entirely CA-WN's recent statement which indicates the intention to work constructively with the new administration. I know that some on the left of politics will find this a hard pill to swallow but I back it based on two points:
- Progress only ever emerges through compromise. We must be willing to work with those we disagree with.
- After a period researching the Reform Councillors, many of them seem to communicate a genuine hunger to improve West Northamptonshire.
However, looking closely at some of the statements our new Reform councillors have made, in addition to reading their campaign literature, I have my concerns that they will struggle to form an effective administration.
Firstly, more so than any party I have researched in the past they don’t appear to have a consistent plan of action. Each Councillor agrees the town has deteriorated but has a different view on what the future should hold. The threads that do run through are vague at best, I don’t see that ‘cutting waste’ provides enough of a platform for productive governance. What happens once the waste is cut, if indeed there is any? Where will this money be spent and how? Who will they disappoint, because they will inevitably disappoint somebody? These are the decisions that our new Councillors face. They may find soon that the grand structures of populism fail to hold much weight when you cannot maintain your popularity.
Secondly, they often refer to issues that are of national significance e.g. immigration and the NHS model but these issues cannot be impacted by a local authority, certainly not in any meaningful way. Any attempt to affect these issues will prove expensive and will extinguish savings that are made.
Thirdly, some of the campaign literature refers to increasing ‘scrutiny’ on the council and ‘challenging’ how money is spent:
This is the rhetoric of opposition but Reform are not the opposition in West Northamptonshire any more, they are the administration. What new Councillors will discover is that they will be the ones under scrutiny; they need to build a cogent plan of action.
This is where I think CA-WN can assist, it is a group not set on revolution or protest but one that is interested in legitimate change to secure the health, security and flourishing of future generations. You only need read The CA-WN Exchange to learn about new ideas, for example look at this new tramway initiative in Coventry:
David Milner
I would say to new Councillors, move focus away from national topics like immigration, this is work for your MPs. By all means look carefully at the books and cut ‘waste’ if it is found but more importantly, think collectively about what kind of future you want to see in West Northamptonshire. Is it really a tax-free wild west? Or is it one where services work for residents, where the problems with SEND education are addressed, where potholes are filled and where people are proud of their home county? You cannot cut your way to this future.