Reform UK won 24 of 25 seats in the wigan council elections in Wigan and Leigh on May 7. Labour still retained control of the council after the count, even as the party suffered a result Paul Watson called "unprecedented".
Watson, the Reform UK leader, said Labour should face a general election after the results and argued that voters had turned away from the party locally and nationally. The only ward Reform did not win was Atherton North, where independent councillor Jamie Hodgkinson took the seat.
Ince and Atherton North
One of the clearest changes came in Ince, which had stood as a symbol of Labour's dominance in Wigan for over 40 years before going to Reform. That result came after Reform had gone into the night expecting to win 20 seats, a target it exceeded by four.
The loss still left Labour in charge of Wigan Council, because it was mathematically impossible for the party to be ousted from control after the May 7 elections. The result gives Reform a far larger presence in the borough, but it does not change who runs the council for now.
Labour's Wigan response
Keith Cunliffe said the campaign had been dominated by national issues, from the cost of living to local government funding, and described Labour's position as "stuck between a rock and a hard place". He also said, "People think we can do things we cannot do, that we haven't the powers to do."
Nazia Rehman said, "We were not expecting this but we knew people were not happy and some people voted against us." She added, "I think the government has to do more and we have to do better. What people have been saying on the doorstep is that the government needs to listen to them. We promised change and I think we have to do more locally and nationally to deliver that change."
Tyldesley and Reform plans
Reform's local campaign also faced pressure from anger over giant "cruise liner" warehouses in Tyldesley, which affected Labour's local leadership. Reform has also set out promises for a council it would control, including abolishing the equality, diversity and inclusion function to save £400,000 a year, diverting managers to front line services, reforming the planning department and regulating houses of multiple occupancy.
That leaves Labour running the council but facing a much smaller cushion after a result that went well beyond Reform's own expectation of 20 seats. For residents in Wigan and Leigh, the immediate change is the size of Reform's breakthrough and the pressure it puts on Labour ahead of the next contest for control.
