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19
Feb
Political parties urged to unite to stop Reform at Valley Gardens by-election
Political parties are being urged to work together to stop Reform UK at the forthcoming Valley Gardens by-election.
Voters will go to the polls on March 19 after Liberal Democrat Edward Metcalfe resigned his seat on Harrogate Town Council.
Compass York and North Yorkshire, which is a group affiliated to the national Compass organisation that supports electoral reform, has called on “progressive parties” to show “strategic nous” to prevent Reform winning.
Celine Barry, local group secretary of Compass York and North Yorkshire, said:
Given the growing fragmentation of British politics, progressive voters need to decide how best to use our combined voting strength to prevent a Reform UK win in this ward, by ensuring that our votes are not dangerously split or squandered.
Reform UK’s anti-immigrant platform threatens to tear our communities apart. And while their populist agenda provides convenient scapegoats for, but no solutions to, people's precarious living conditions, their promises of lower taxation and cutting wasteful spending are proving empty as Reform council after council cuts services, threatens to close old people's homes, abandons net zero targets, and raises council taxes.
The letter reiterated Compass York and North Yorkshire’s commitment to electoral reform by calling for the current first-past-the-post voting system to be replaced with proportional representation.
Jonathan Swales, chairman of Reform’s Harrogate and Knaresborough branch, said in response:
We welcome open debate in the Valley Gardens ward, and we believe elections should be contests of ideas, not coordinated efforts to exclude one particular party.
Reform is standing on a platform of local accountability, responsible spending and practical solutions for residents. If people agree with that, they should feel free to vote accordingly without being told their vote must be ‘used’ strategically.
Democracy works best when voters are trusted to make their own judgement. We respect the right of others to campaign as they see fit, but we will continue to focus on presenting our case positively and allowing residents to decide for themselves.
The Lib Dems won 15 of the 19 seats on Harrogate Town Council at last year’s inaugural election. The Conservatives have two seats and Reform UK has one and there is one independent.
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