Key issues facing Reform as the party takes the reins in Staffordshire and picks group leader

Nigel Farage’s party took 49 of the authority’s 62 seats ending 16 years of Conservative rule in Staffordshire, with gains at both the Tories’ and Labour’s expense. The new councillors have since chosen Tamworth's Ian Cooper as group leader. 

No doubt many Reform voters were motivated by disaffection with both the two main parties nationally, along with concerns over national issues such as immigration. But Mr Farage, and many of his new councillors, have spoken of the need to cut ‘wasteful spending’ in local government, citing areas such as climate change policy and diversity, equity and inclusion – DEI.

The single biggest issue that most councils will be dealing with over the next few years will be local government reorganisation. At the moment, local services in Staffordshire are split between the county council and the eight districts.

The Labour government wants to abolish two-tier councils and replace them with a single layer of unitary authorities, which ministers believe are more efficient and effective. Staffordshire’s previous Conservative leadership, while opposing the principle of reorganisation, favoured a county unitary model, which would see the county and district councils effectively merged, with Stoke-on-Trent remaining separate.

Reform have blamed such expenditure for rising council tax bills and poorer performance in areas like road repairs. The ruling Reform group on Staffordshire County Council has yet to set out its plans in detail, but here are some of the key issues they will have in their in-box.

An alternative plan, backed by Stoke-on-Trent City Council, would see Staffordshire divided between northern and southern unitaries. These interim proposals were submitted by the Staffordshire councils in March, with feedback expected from the government soon. Councils will be expected to submit final proposals by November.

As the ruling party at the county council, Reform will now be a key player in the reorganisation in Staffordshire. Mr Farage has previously spoken of his scepticism of local government reorganisation and his opposition to counties being abolished.

But even if Staffordshire’s Reform group opposes what is happening, it is unlikely they will be able to stop the reorganisation, which could happen in 2028 at the earliest.

Care services for vulnerable adults and children now account for the lion’s share of local government spending. Nearly 70p out of every pound that Staffordshire residents pay in council tax goes towards social care, leaving less money available for other services.

This year the county council has allocated an extra £21.2 million towards adult social care, which will help providers meet the cost of the increased minimum wage and higher national insurance contributions. But local government leaders, including those in Staffordshire, have long been calling on the government to put social care on a more sustainable financial footing nationally.

They say that extra funding from government has not been enough to meet demand, while the two per cent social care council tax precept is not considered a long-term solution. In the absence of a national solution, like the Tories before them Reform will have to find a way of ensuring the county council fulfils its statutory duties on social care with the limited resources available.

Few local issues get people irate like the state of Staffordshire’s roads. While social care is clearly a bigger area of spend, potholes are a much more visible sign of a council’s failure to do its job.

Earlier this year the county council’s previous Conservative administration announced that a further £45 million would be invested in maintaining and improving Staffordshire’s highways over the next three years, along with a further £15 million being ploughed into the Fixing More Roads scheme, which repairs 36,000 potholes last year.

But while council leaders spoke of road maintenance work going ‘from strength to strength’, many people choose to trust the evidence of their own eyes when it comes to potholes. Mr Farage clearly understood the importance of road repairs as an election issue when he posed with a Pothole Pro machine on a visit to JCB’s headquarters in Rocester during the campaign.

Now that they are in power at the county council, Reform will have to quickly deliver on their promises to improve the situation on Staffordshire’s roads, or else the anger that voters feel will soon be directed at them.

Staffordshire, along with many other councils, is facing a ticking time bomb when it comes to spending on special education. The simple truth is that local authorities are not getting enough funding from central government to meet the rocketing cost of SEND.

Staffordshire’s overspend on its high needs block (HNB) was expected to reach £55 million at the end of 2024/25, and without mitigation this deficit is projected to rise to a staggering £350 million by the end of the decade. The government has put in place a statutory override which allows councils to keep their HNB deficit separate to the main revenue budget, which normally has to be balanced each year. But this override is due to come to an end next year.

While this is a national problem which will require a national solution, Staffordshire’s new Reform leaders cannot afford to overlook this vital issue.