Senior Labour council leader says Government must do more to counter Reform UK

The Labour leadership must do more to improve the prospects of communities outside big cities to counter the electoral challenge posed by Reform UK, a senior Labour local government figure has said.

Sir Stephen Houghton, who is leader of Barnsley Council and chairman of the body representing metropolitan authorities outside cities, said the Government should urgently boost cost-of-living support and channel capital investment into towns to tackle disillusionment among voters in former industrial areas.

Speaking ahead of local elections on Thursday, Sir Stephen also said the Government’s decisions on benefits were causing widespread hardship and suggested ministers’ approach to community cohesion in response to the riots last summer has not gone far enough.

Polling suggests Reform could take control of Doncaster, which is the only council of the 23 being contested currently run by Labour.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and Defence Secretary John Healey represent seats in the area.

The race to become the city’s mayor is believed to be in the balance and a victory for Reform’s Alexander Jones over the Labour incumbent Ros Jones would increase concerns over future electoral jeopardy for the party in the wider region and beyond.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has conceded that the Runcorn and Helsby by-election, which also takes place on Monday, will be “tough” as it is expected to be a tightly fought contest between Labour and Reform.

Sir Stephen admitted “all eyes” were on Doncaster, with potential implications for his own town nearby.

He agreed that migration is high on the agenda among voters in towns such as Barnsley and Doncaster, but said this was because of a combination of a general feeling that communities have been “left behind” by successive governments and Nigel Farage’s party claiming there are “easy solutions to complex problems”.

“Reform come along and say, well, the problem is migration where the problem clearly isn’t migration,” Sir Stephen said.

He added: “Investment is needed in those places to bring them up to an economic standard and, secondly, in the short term we need to do things to help them with the cost of living because these are deprived communities on low incomes and even if they are working, life is a struggle.

“The Government’s capital investment strategy cannot just focus on big cities. We are hearing a lot that the Government’s thinking that it is about the big cities that produce big growth.

“That may be true but that won’t get them elected in four years’ time.”

Sir Stephen said there could be negative political implications of predominantly focusing investment on major cities which already have high levels of Labour support.

He said: “The big cities outside London have a population of about seven million. The regional towns have a population of 18 million. So do the electoral numbers here, guys.

“If you want to move forward, you’ve got to address both sides of that coin. The big cities are important and I’m not querying that. What I am querying is that you can’t just do that alone.”

Sir Stephen also suggested the Government’s approach to improving social cohesion lacks the scope required to respond effectively to the riots which followed the murder of three girls in Southport last year.

He said: “The Government has said they want community strategies from councils, but just talking to people, educating and lecturing people, isn’t going to do it.”

Sir Stephen added he expects Chancellor Rachel Reeves to “spend big” on capital investment in the forthcoming spending review, but suggested she should consider ways to be more flexible.

He said: “My advice would be, ask how you can turn some of that capital into revenue spend.

“That’s what I don’t know. But if you can, it is the revenue spend that will help you deal with the cost-of-living crisis.”

Sir Stephen, who is chairman of the Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities, said measures such as the increase in the minimum wage were “positive” but “isn’t enough” in the circumstances many people are facing.

He highlighted the Government’s decision last year to limit the winter fuel allowance to those on pension credit, which removed the benefit from about 10 million pensioners, and the tightening of eligibility for personal independence payments for those with disability or long-term illness with increased living costs, as key problems.

Sir Stephen added: “It isn’t enough if you are on benefits, and many people on benefits are getting cuts. It isn’t enough if you are an old person who doesn’t work because you have just had your winter fuel allowance cut.”

Barnsley Council is currently providing support to 2,000 pensioners who are struggling with fuel payments as a result of the changes to eligibility.

Amid concerns that slow economic growth and increased borrowing costs will lead to further spending cuts as the Chancellor adheres to her spending rules, Sir Stephen said he does not believe providing support for the most vulnerable would “break the bank”.

He also speculated that capital spending on infrastructure could end up benefiting a “future Tory government”.

“With the rise of Reform, and we are living in a world now where the electorate is far more volatile than it used to be, there is a real risk to the Government that their hard work could lead to someone else getting the benefit politically,” Sir Stephen said.