'How Reform UK could run Sheffield Council with less than quarter of votes' - Reader's letter
Roy Morris of Sheffield Compass looks at voting turnout projects after the local elections...
In the recent local elections, Reform had 26.5% of the vote, but gained 40% of the seats.
If similar results are returned in the other two thirds of the seats in 2028 and 2029, then Reform will be the largest party and be close to control of Sheffield City Council (SCC).
If that happened, just over a quarter of us would vote for Reform; I guess they would be delighted, but the much larger number of voters who support Green, Labour or LibDems would not.
If supporters of these three parties continue electioneering in the same old way, we'll probably have SCC run by a party supported by under a third of voters.
Now, I would be the first to criticise LibDems, Labour and Green for some of the foolish/damaging things they have done in the past.
But at least, their leaders are not in hoc to a crypto currency tax exile, they do not devote much of their time to earning a packet for number one (Farage earned over £1million extra in the last year!) and none of them has plans to sell off our NHS to private companies.
So, supporters of Labour, Green and LibDem parties, the ball’s in your court: apart from the usual “we must try even harder”, what do you intend to do to avoid just over 26% of the electorate deciding who takes power in SCC?
Answers please on this page or to [email protected]