NIGEL Farage says Staffordshire County Council’s new Reform UK leaders will slash climate change and diversity policy.
The party won 49 of the 62 seats in Staffordshire to secure an historic landslide victory.
Mr Farage congratulated the newly-elected county councillors, who quaffed champagne in bright sunshine during a celebration event.
And he promised a “different culture” at the county council under Reform, insisting it would be one focused on performing “basic functions” for taxpayers.
And Mr Farage suggested that council staff working in climate change policy should “go look for a different job”.
He said:
“There will be a very different culture in the way this county council is run.
“Staffordshire needs mega savings and we will make savings. How big those savings will be I can’t predict right now, but there will be a re-prioritisation on what a county council is there to do.”
Reform’s victory brought to an end 16 years of Conservative rule at the county council, with the Tories being reduced from 53 to ten councillors.
Mr Farage claimed the local elections signalled “the death of the Conservative party” – and said the day had been the “most significant” in his 30-year political career.
He added:
“It’s phenomenal. I knew we’d do well and I thought we had a chance of largest party, but not within my dreams did I think we could become the party in power.
“So it’s a big challenge but a big opportunity too.”
What a lovely man. Reform haven’t been in power in Staffordshire a day yet and the very first thing he does is to gleefully threaten a small number of honest, hardworking people who work on subjects he doesn’t like, that he wants them to lose their jobs.
Asellus, they may be hardworking and nice but we can’t afford their work nor is it a priority. Priority should be social care, homelessness, roads and transport etc. DEI roles are a luxury we cannot afford.
SO THE NEW Reform Staffordshire county Council has a new council leader and it is not one if the newly elected councillors ht is Her Farage
Voters disagree with you Asellus aquaticus
Money should prioritise other areas more important than climate change? It’s fine the UK doing our bit but not when the likes of China are building a coal powered power stations every month.
No doubt you were a remain voter ?
We can’t complain if the democratically elected party implements the policies they said they were going to do whether we agree with them or not.
@Local Man: Bearing in mind that the Green Party now have a total of 855 councillors across England and Wales, plus 5 in Northern Ireland and 35 Scottish Green Party councillors as opposed to Reform UK’s 777, it would seem one or two voters strongly disagree with your views on climate change.
https://opencouncildata.co.uk/councillors2.php?y=0
Local Man – Asselus is a person who uses his common sense and went for the common sense answer. Voted Remain.
China built six coal-fired power stations last year. How is that one a month?
Are you sure they were additional and not replacements? Either way, they were built by coal – producing companies. They extract the stuff and burn as they don’t have much of a choice.
If you are going to mention China then tell us how they installed 14 times the amount of renewables as the coal companies built.
I doubt in practice there is much to choose between the ineffective and the ignorant ones either of which don’t really care.
In a way it’s good that reform gets the opportunity at this level to show what they are really like and lift the mantle on the intolerance and selfishness that feed their policies
Other countries occasionally fall for the attraction of the extreme right (in the past and currently) and have found out, or are finding out where that leads to.
So, bring it on Reform, show what you really stand for, and the sensible, tolerant, and caring majority will hopefully put you back where you belong.
You look at the voting form. The names of those representing parties who have already let us badly down over sixteen years and the last ten months as well. What are you to do? Only a fool keeps making the same mistake. Your real concerns are for local and domestic problems. It is right to give a chance to a new political prospect. At council level you might get an idea of their potential for government. You just don’t keep hoping the incumbent council members might get better. The country seems to feel the same.
@Clare – voters have not been able to vote for Reform councillors for as long as they could vote for Green councillors so your comparison has little validity.
We should also remember that the Labour party prevented many areas of the UK from having a vote in 2025, so it is very likely the proportion of the total UK councillors would have swung even more to Reform had they been able to vote.