Last Thursday (July 24), Alan Cook became Reform’s first ever London councillor after the vote in Bromley Common and Holwood ward.
Reacting to the result, Labour MP Liam Conlon, whose Beckenham and Penge constituency neighbours Bromley Common, warned party members that the Reform victory was the start of a “new trend”.
“This is a shift in voting patterns that we have not seen before, and we cannot be complacent,” he said.
“We must take the fight to Reform, showing local residents that their implausible, easy answers to difficult problems will ultimately make us all worse off.
“I also know Reform do not represent the values of our community here – where we see our diversity as a strength not a weakness, and something to unite us not divide us.”
Cllr Cook won the by-election for Reform by 181 votes, unseating the Conservatives, who finished in second place.
He told the News Shopper that his victory reflected a “rejection of the failed
policies of both Labour and the Conservatives”.
“Reform is a cohesive party pulling together under our banner of family,
community and country,” he added.
“We say let’s celebrate what we have in common, not perpetually draw attention to and highlight our differences.
“On political policy, it is no longer a left versus right ideological battle – we find the common-sense solutions are the best.”
He also disputed that Reform was offering “implausible” policies, claiming that the party’s platform was “rigorously costed” and “backed by independent economists”.
Both Cllr Cook and Conlon pointed out that the Conservatives were unable to avoid defeat in the by-election, despite leader Kemi Badenoch’s campaigning in the ward.
The Beckenham and Penge MP blamed the by-election result on a “Tory collapse”, but said that the Labour party needed to “treat the Reform threat…seriously too”.
Conservative candidate Ian Payne’s vote was down around 12 per cent on the 2022 local elections, when the Tories won all three seats in the ward.
However, Labour’s vote also reduced significantly, with the vote for their candidate Elizabeth Morgan down around 10 per cent from three-years ago.
