Reform UK announces local parliamentary candidates

Reform UK has announced its prospective parliamentary candidates for Harrogate and Knaresborough and Ripon and Skipton.

The right-wing party was founded as the Brexit Party with support from Nigel Farage in 2018.

It was renamed in 2021 and is now led by Richard Tice.

Reform UK has said it will field candidates in every constituency at the next general election, which must take place within the next 18 months.

It has selected Richard Brown to contest Harrogate and Knaresborough and Simon Garvey to stand in Ripon and Skipton. The seats are currently held by Conservatives Andrew Jones and Julian Smith respectively.

We spoke to both candidates, neither of whom has stood for political office before.

Harrogate Station Gateway ‘ridiculous’

Mr Brown (pictured), an accountant from Harrogate, said he believed local authorities should be more open and accountable.

He described the £11.9 million Harrogate Station Gateway initiative as “ridiculous” and accused the council of wasting public money on schemes most people didn’t want. He cited the £10,000 spent on a fountain in Valley Gardens as another example.

Being an accountant, he said he’d “like to see the figures” before forming a view on what should happen to Harrogate Convention Centre, which has unsuccessfully sought funds for a £49 million upgrade.

Mr Brown said he decided to put his name forward after attending some Reform UK meetings and being “impressed by the quality of people”.

Many Reform UK members had Conservative or UKIP backgrounds, he said, but he hadn’t voted consistently for any party since the days of Margaret Thatcher. He said he voted for the Conservatives at the last election to achieve Brexit.

He said:

“My clients have always told me I should stand as an MP. I thought maybe that’s an itch I ought to scratch.”

Mr Brown said he wasn’t campaigning to make up the numbers. He said people were disillusioned with the Tories and not impressed by Labour or the Liberal Democrats and there was an opportunity to appeal to disaffected Tories.

He said he hoped Reform UK would have a “Berlin Wall moment” by shocking the established political parties and winning in places such as Harrogate and Knaresborough.

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‘I backed Boris to get Brexit done”

Simon Garvey (pictured) said he was a mainstream Conservative with no political ambitions who decided to stand because of recent political developments.

Mr Garvey, who lives with his wife and children in Ripon, said:

“I backed Boris to get Brexit done and feel disenfranchised now after Boris was ousted. If Liz Truss was given a chance I would have backed her too as she was chosen by the membership but from a democracy standpoint I don’t feel I can support Rishi Sunak as I don’t think you can have un-elected leaders.”

Mr Garvey has a background in education. Besides teaching in Ripon, he set up Inclusive Learning Systems to develop software for schools.

He cites education, and “good teachers being forced out of the system”, as one of his main concerns, along with the drive to carbon net zero, which he said had affected many people financially.

Mr Garvey said:

“We had an open goal with Brexit. Boris could have led us to a great place financially. But forces outside the political sphere are influencing where the country is heading.”

He predicted if the opinion polls were correct and Labour won the next election, many voters would turn to Reform UK at the following election out of disillusionment with both Labour and the Tories.

Selby and Ainsty by-election candidates have their say – Part 2

This article is the second of a series of six.

Voters across parts of the district will be heading to the polls on Thursday (July 20), when Selby and Ainsty holds a by-election triggered by the dramatic resignation last month of MP Nigel Adams. 

Most of the Selby and Ainsty constituency lies beyond our district’s borders – it stretches almost as far as Goole and Doncaster – but its northern end does encompass Huby, Follifoot, Spofforth and some of the villages in the Vale of York, such as Tockwith, Green Hammerton and Long Marston. 

There’s a broad field to choose from – there are 13 candidates – but who are they, and what do they believe? 

In the lead-up to the by-election, we’re spotlighting two or three each day, giving constituents the opportunity to read about the people who wish to represent them at Westminster – in their own words. 

Yesterday, we featured independent Andrew Gray and Claire Holmes of the Conservative Party. Continuing to take their surnames in alphabetical order, today’s candidates are Mike Jordan of the Yorkshire Party and Dave Kent of Reform UK. 

Tomorrow: Keir Mather (Labour), Nick Palmer (independent), and Guy Phoenix (Heritage Party).

Mike Jordan, Yorkshire Party 

Mike Jordan has been a county councillor since 2009 and currently represents the Camblesforth & Carlton division on North Yorkshire Council. He was a member of the Conservative Party before he joined the Yorkshire Party, which campaigns for a Yorkshire Parliament, in 2018. He moved back to the Tories, but he then quit the party again, causing it to lose its majority on the council, and now sits as an independent. 

To add to the confusion, the Yorkshire Party is not mentioned next to Mr Jordan’s name on the official list of candidates – the space is blank, due to an administrative error. But he assures the Stray Ferret that his name will be on the ballot paper as the Yorkshire Party candidate. 

“In a nutshell, this is a unique opportunity for the residents of Selby and Ainsty. This by-election is for a year’s term in office. So why not lend me your vote, just for the year and send me down to London. I am the only candidate that will force them to sit up and think about Yorkshire.  

“Selby and Ainsty will be effectively representing Yorkshire in this election. It’s a numbers game down there, and so voting for any of the main parties will be like pouring a pint of water in the sea and expecting to see it rise. Not happening.” 

Dave Kent, Reform UK 

A populist hardline Eurosceptic party founded by Nigel Farage in 2018 as the Brexit Party.  

“I live just outside Selby, in the village of Hambleton. This is no pretence when I say ‘I love the area and its people’. 

“That said, people are facing issues that need strong leadership to bring people with hope and improve the town of Selby by using a Beverley town mentality to bring people into this lovely town.  

“There are many ways this can be done; one is to bring produce from local farmer shop with benefits for doing this and create a boutique shop style as well. With incentives for doing this.  

“Our rivers are being polluted by sewage entering the River Wharfe near Wetherby. This is something you would expect from a Third World country. Unfortunately, any fines are much lower than the money to improve. This is affecting our area, but also the whole country as similar issues elsewhere where Reform UK is needed. 

“Probably for the first time since the war, local issues are also national issues. The cost of living is soaring, inflation is running at eye-watering levels, and the people on the street are feeling the pinch. Reform UK would do several things to combat this.  

“It was brought to this country’s attention a couple weeks ago that supermarkets have been profiting by large amounts on fuel; we believe food is having a similar thing, and gas too.  

“They have used a chance to say ‘aw Covid, aw Ukraine’, yet our farmers are not getting any more for the food they produce, so somewhere in between, someone is making a killing.  

“Net zero, according to KPMG, will cost each household £1,000 this year; this is madness, since what they are doing will not change our climate one bit. Also mortgage rates, one of the only jobs for the Bank of England to do and they can’t do that right. 

“Much more to say, but I am limited.”

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‘Two in three chance’ Conservatives will lose Selby & Ainsty

The upcoming by-election in Selby and Ainsty is the most likely of three in the UK to see a win for the Conservatives, according to bookmakers’ odds.

Parliamentary seats in Uxbridge and South Ruislip, and Somerton and Frome, will also be contested on Thursday, July 20.

Statistics from bookmakers’ odds, analysed by the Telegraph, reveal the Selby and Ainsty seat is the most likely of the three to remain in Tory hands.

However, it still has a 66% likelihood of being lost to another party or independent candidate.

By comparison, Boris Johnson’s former seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip has a 92% likelihood of being lost, and Somerton and Frome – previously held by David Warburton until his resignation after having the whip removed by the party – is rated at 71%.

In Selby and Ainsty, the by-election was triggered by the resignation of Nigel Adams, a close ally of the former prime minister.

He had held the seat since 2010, when it was first formed, and won a majority of just over 20,000 at the last election in 2019.

This time, the Conservative candidate will be Claire Holmes. She will stand against 12 other candidates, including two who have stood in the constituency before: Arnold Warneken for the Green Party and Mike Jordan for the Yorkshire Party.

The full list of candidates is:

Any constituents who have not yet registered to vote have until midnight tonight to do so on the government’s website.

It will be the first time voter ID will be required for an election in North Yorkshire. Acceptable forms of ID include photocard driving licences, UK passports, and bus passes for older or disabled people.

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