The move by two formerly Independent Middlesbrough councillors to join the Reform UK party continues to stir controversy at the Town Hall.
Last month, councillors Michael Saunders and Stephen Hill quietly joined Reform, making no formal announcement. Saunders listed his new Reform membership on his councillors’ Register of Interests page, something that Hill failed to do immediately.
Reform or Independent?
Both councillors have remained members of Middlesbrough Independent Councillors Association (Mica) rather than join the council’s Reform group with the latter’s current complement of two.
Saunders has stayed as Leader of Mica which with its eight members is still the largest opposition grouping in the council chamber. As Leader of the Minority Group, Saunders receives an extra council allowance of £2,700 a year.
The Mica group does not require its members to comply with an agreed policy position.
Cllr Saunders aims to stand as a Reform candidate in the next local elections which take place in May next year.
War of Independents
Meanwhile the deputy leader of Mica, Cllr Ian Morrish, has left his position and quit the Mica group altogether. On his Facebook page, Marton West Independent, he declared,
“Integrity is more important to me than being a member of a group, hence I resigned as deputy group leader and as a member of Mica.
“I have always said that I will work with anyone who will work with me, this includes several Labour & Conservative councillors as well as independents and the Reform group leader and have never tried to hide that from anyone.
“I am still a councillor for Marton West and very proud to represent the residents of this ward, it is a privilege and not a right!”
In a resignation email as reported by Teesside Live, Cllr Morrish questioned the “openness and trust” within the Mica grouping.
A last straw seems to have been a WhatsApp post by Cllr Saunders declaring that if he left Mica “Labour would have a field day”.
Adding salt to the wounds is an alleged meeting held between Saunders and Reform Group Leader Joanne Rush.
Morrish will now attend meetings as a member of no particular group, together with four other “independent Independent” councillors.
Leafy suburb…
Cllr Rush was elected in a by-election in February this year for Nunthorpe, a ward originally outside the Middlesbrough boundary which swelled dramatically from the late 1950s with neat Wimpey homes aimed at lower-middle class ICI managers.
In her election campaign Rush rarely mentioned Reform policies.
…Versus urban deprivation
Could Cllr Saunders win the next local election as a Reform candidate in his deprived Park End and Beckfield ward – a world away from Rush’s leafy outer suburb?
Let’s do the maths – or at least look at the 2021 census and 2023 election data.
The ward is completely “low income”, falling within the 3% of Britains most deprived neighbourhoods.
Reform’s efforts elsewhere have been to cut council spending. Social housing comprises 41% of the ward’s housing stock.
If education budgets were to be slashed, how would the residents fare? At 34.43%, Park End and Beckfield has the highest proportion of residents in Middlesbrough with no formal qualification.
On the national level of Reform aims, scrapping PIP (Personal Independence Payments) and privatising the NHS are top priorities.
Over 10% of the ward has self-reported “bad” or “very bad” general health, compared to 3% in Nunthorpe.
A poor white ward
The population of Park End and Beckfield could be described as “poor white”.
The ward is 94% white and only 2% black or Asian.
Only 81 residents are Muslim.
So if the ward’s voters want a scapegoat for their poverty, Reform’s anti-immigration policies would certainly appeal.
Loss of faith
The 2023 council election poll reflected a loss of faith in the mainstream parties. Saunders, Hill and another Independent won with well over 500 votes each while the three Labour candidates lost with votes in the mid-200s to early 300s. The two Conservatives trailed with 82 and 58 votes each. Reform did not field candidates in that election.
The turnout was low, with 19.33% of the 5,469 eligible voters.
A gift for reform?
To conclude from the demographics, a disillusionment with the mainstream parties of this deprived, overwhelmingly white neighbourhood would make the ward easy prey for Reform regardless of the devastating effect a Reform council would have on their lives.
Perhaps Saunders and Hill decided to join Reform after its landslide victories at the Hartlepool local election.
However, can the Reform brand survive until next year, especially with new revelations about Farage’s financial dealings- particularly the £5mn undeclared gift from crypto-billionaire and Thai resident Christopher Harborne?
After all, even the giant wave of a tsunami eventually retreats back to the sea.
In joining Reform while keeping a foot in Mica, are Saunders and Hill hedging their bets?
We have reached out to all the councillors mentioned for comment.
Update: a matter of survival?
A twist in the tale affects what happens in the local elections in May next year.
The ward that Saunders and Hill represent – Park End and Beckfield- will be abolished next year before the election, following Boundary Commission changes.
Neighbouring Berwick Hills and Pallister will also be split.
Parts of the wards will be merged giving two new wards:
Berwick Hills and Park End
Pallister and Priestfields
The old Berwick Hills and Pallister ward loses a councillor.
Saunders has mentioned to other councillors that he intends to stand in the new Berwick Hills and Park End ward.
But the boundary changes split Saunders’ support base. Although he lives in Beckfield and grew up in Park End, he is an unknown for much of the new ward.
Saunders’ decision brings him into direct competition with the very well-known Labour Councillor Ian Blades, the Executive Member of Neighbourhoods who also sits on numerous committees.
Standing as a little-known Independent, Saunders would struggle to get elected and the next election could mark the end of his political career
But as the Reform candidate with its current support, the contest becomes one of Labour versus Reform and he might well win.
Everything hangs on the state of Reform’s national popularity next May.
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