Category: LocalElections2023

Reform UK the successor to The Brexit Party is standing candidates in May’s local elections.  We spoke with Robert Stevens who is standing for them in the Hailsham South Ward of Wealden District Council.

Tell us a bit about yourself, your party, and where you’re standing.

Hailsham is a small Market Town located north of Eastbourne. It is vastly growing due to continuous development in the area and still has a farmers market located near the town centre. It has some very beautiful scenery nearby and some wonderful walks. The Cuckoo trail being one of them, which used to be a railway line leading from the north of Eastbourne all the way to Heathfield.

As for myself I am in a long-term relationship for near on ten years and have lived in Hailsham for six years. I am employed by Royal Mail as van technician for roughly five years, and before that had my own business in soda blasting. 

“development has taken priority over everything else in my area without thinking how this will affect the local community”

The main reason I got into politics is to see change. As mentioned earlier development has taken priority over everything else in my area without thinking how this will affect the local community in the way of Doctors, Dentists, Parking, Shopping, Roads, Schools, Sewage, Water supply and also flooding which has happened at numerous new built estates. 

All these are being dramatically affected now.  Which is why need some thought and new plans to be put in place before things get even worse.

How can people find out more or get in touch if they want to get involved? 

If anyone would like to get in contact me, they can reach me at [email protected].

An appeal from Rosco Paterson Reform UK co-ordinator for Surrey.

May 4^th seems close but not touching. The Reform UK process for the application by and the selection of council candidates, although not overlong, means we must get things going quickly. The deadlines imposed by the councils themselves for meetings with candidates and election agents are also pretty aggressive.

Resources are a limiting factor against this timescale, and we fully understand that candidates standing now, for the most part, will not be able to manage a fully equipped campaign and everything that goes with it, but all candidates are important, and any candidate allows us to get the Reform UK logo and name onto the voting slips. If we can pass 800 candidates then we get a party political broadcast; that would be a real win.

If you decide to do this and also give it a go for the election, we promise to communicate with members in the county (and outside) with the hope of assisting you for leafletting and door-knocking. So as an ardent request please contact me ([email protected]) if you are interested and willing to:

• Stand in the forthcoming council elections on May 4^th, (for those eligible in Surrey)
• Could be available, for leafletting, and/or
• Could be available, for buddying up with a candidate for doorstep chats.

I was asked the other day how many seats were up for grabs and our starting position. I think you will see from the following table just how many opportunities there are in all 11 boroughs in the county. Some councils elect all their councillors every four years and some rotate one-third of their councillors each year, the size of the prize is still considerable. (The table also shows the control of each borough as published after the last major elections and a few recent updates):

The total is 275 seats; that is over one-third of the target required for the whole country, just here in Surrey, for the party’s political broadcast.

You can contact Rosco at [email protected].