Kirklees shows the danger of Reform's incompetence

There has been a lot of chatter about the new Reform UK group on Kirklees Council which descended into chaos after Cllr. Sarah Wood stated that she didn't understand the procedural and constitutional rules. We need to acknowledge a few things here, because it is important.

First, Cllr. Wood is absolutely right to suggest that the rules are an absolute minefield and are not designed with 'regular' people in mind. Politics more broadly is designed for people who are essentially moulded into budding politicians, meaning that certain groups within society - particularly working class communities - are left scratching their heads.

Second, there is truth in the accusations of incompetence surrounding newly elected Reform councillors across the country. But I don't necessarily see that as their fault on an individual level. As somebody who stood as a Green Party candidate, I had some fantastic support, experience and knowledge around me from existing councillors, and had I been elected, I would have felt comfortable knowing that I could contact any one of them should I run into any procedural or constitutional questions. I don't think Reform have that support network from their colleagues on the council, or the party itself.

Third, we need to be careful here because we know that Nigel Farage will use these situations as a way to claim certain political parties are attacking working class communities who have found themselves elected into jobs they don't know how to fulfil. We should be using this opportunity to educate rather than berate.

Finally, love them or loathe them, these councillors were elected. They now have huge responsibilities on their shoulders. I'm not saying we should hold their hands and guide them through every aspect of their jobs, but ultimately, we need to be working to ensure that these people don't completely destroy our communities through their incompetence and ignorance.

There is a level of responsibility I lay at the doors of these individual councillors, simply because they should have known the job to an extent before even running for selection. You wouldn't apply to be a cardiovascular surgeon with no knowledge, understanding or qualifications in the field. Elected office should be no different. In my view, these new councillors ought to educate themselves very quickly, or resign and trigger a by-election.

The key responsibility though lies with Nigel Farage and every other unelected briefcase who runs the party. Quite simply, they have groomed people into thinking they can be politicians without equipping them with the skills they need to do that. That, in my view, is unforgivable. And ultimately, it goes to show the level of distain Farage has for working-class communities. This whole affair is nothing but an attempt to further his career by throwing uneducated people under the bus. And that doesn't shock me.

What we also need to be acutely terrified of is that Reform currently has 8 MPs, and are on track to win hundreds more in the next general election. If Reform goes on to form the next government, many of those brand new MPs will become ministers, assigned huge power and influence, not to mention billions of pounds of public money. If Reform cannot properly take charge and educate just over a thousand ward councillors, how can we trust them to run a government where they would be responsible for tens of millions of people, rather than a few thousand?