‘There’s probably slightly more important things we should be concentrating on rather than flags and making a lot of noise about that.’
Lib Dem group leader Jerry Roodhouse has criticised Reform for failing to set out any new policies since they took control of Warwickshire County Council since May.
19-year-old Reform councillor George Finch became council leader last month, after Rob Howard resigned just 41 days into the job.
Roodhouse said Reform has made little progress on issues such as funding for adult social care and SEND services, and local government reorganisation.
Lack of experience
The opposition leader said: “What you have, and it’s like a lot of Reform councils, is people that have arrived after putting out simple messages to the electorate and getting elected. But with very little understanding or experience of local government.”
Out of the 22 Reform councillors elected in May, “I think there’s only one former councillor and he was on Warwickshire County Council about 30 years ago. From my understanding, nobody else has been involved in local politics,” Roodhouse said.
In meetings, he said that Reform cabinet members “just read off scripts that the officers are giving them, so that’s a little bit disappointing”. In addition, some cabinet members’ attendance at committee meetings has been low.
“Some of them got elected and weren’t really expecting to get elected. All of a sudden all of this stuff lands on your plate and it’s lots to juggle and they don’t know how to do it,” he said.
‘A lot of noise’ about flags
Today, Finch has announced that Reform will bring forward a new three-flag policy for Warwickshire. In a Daily Mail interview, the 19-year-old said the Union Jack Flag, St George’s flag and county flag would be flown from Shire Hall.
In June, Finch also called for the removal of the council’s Pride flag, which the council’s chief executive Monica Fogarty refused to do and was subsequently villified by Zia Yusuf.
The Lib Dem councillor said that while Reform has made “a lot of noise” about flags, Farage’s party is not addressing more critical issues.
“I think there are bigger concerns about the spend on adult social care, how we deal with vulnerable people across the county, the services we’re running, there’s probably slightly more important things we should be concentrating on rather than flags and making a lot of noise about that,” Roodhouse said.
The Lib Dem said that since he was elected as leader, Finch “hasn’t really laid out a sense of what you call corporate priorities”.
Finch has pledged to fix SEND services, but Roodhouse argued he has offered no detail beyond reviewing subsidies for home-to-school transport for over-16s. He added: “I’m not sure how he’s going to do that [fix SEND] because a lot of it is an issue the government needs to fix.”
HMOs
At a recent Reform press conference, Finch expressed anger that an asylum seeker living in an HMO had been charged with the rape of 12-year-old girl.
In a letter to the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and the chief constable, Alex Franklin Smith, Finch called on the government to “immediately remove and rehouse all asylum seekers currently living in HMOs in Warwickshire”.
He also said: “Our community has had enough of the Home Office breaking planning regulations to turn sections of local communities into unrecognisable, ghetto-like zones.”
Roodhouse said Finch’s characterisation of HMOs shows “a lack of understanding of the situation”.
“What exactly is he trying to get at?,” Roodhouse said, “Because most of the HMOs we have in Rugby, for instance, they don’t take asylum seekers, they’re taking people who are working and paying their taxes, which gives you a different situation to what he is saying.”
Roodhouse added that while there are some issues with HMOs, they relate to multiple residents owning cars and parking issues.
Political advisors
Last month, Reform voted to employ political advisors for the three largest political groups on the council – Reform, the Lib Dems and the Tories, at a cost of up to £150,000 a year.
The Lib Dems, Labour and Green Party opposed the plans.
Roodhouse said there are concerns about how the roles would be funded.
“At the moment, we’re waiting to see where they’re going to get the money from,” he explained. “We’ve had a briefing saying they could find the money for this year, but they’ll have to find it for next year too. If that impacts services, we wouldn’t want to see that.”
Reform has not yet confirmed where savings will be made. He said Reform has announced that Zia Yusuf’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency will be coming to Warwickshire but councillors do not know when.
The Lib Dems have asked for assurances around how Reform will use data and have asked how the Doge visit will work, but so far have had no answers.
Council leader George Finch was approached for comment.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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