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| Graph of Redbridge ward result, 2026 Southampton City Council Image: Southampton Independents |
At the 2026 local elections, and the Scottish and Welsh Parliament elections, Reform did very well, reflecting their consistent opinion poll ratings.
Reform councillors have been elected in Southampton and elsewhere, somewhat unexpectedly and surprisingly. And some are quitting almost as soon as they were elected. Here are some examples:
- BBC. 11th May 2026 (4 days after the election), "New Reform councillor quits after race post claims"
- BBC, 15th May 2026 (8 days after election), "New Reform councillor who made adult films quits"
- MSN, 14th May 2026 (7 days after election), "Councillor quits Reform over Holocaust 'hoax' post"
A Reform UK candidate - John Edwards - won the Redbridge ward where Andrew Pope stood as an Independent Network candidate for Southampton City Council. The graph above shows the result. Andrew was third, slightly behind Labour but way behind Reform.
So what are the Reform UK councillors, such as Edwards, who is also the Chair of Reform UK in Southamptno, actually like?
And what is Reform UK actually like... on the inside?
We have inside information. Slightly old information, but inside information.
Briefly in 2024, for around two months, after the June General Election Co-Founder of Southampton Independents Andrew Pope was a member of Reform UK. He quit in absolute disgust very shortly after, in September 2024.
Andrew says:
"After the recent local elections, some of my supporters have suggested to me that I join a political party. I've said no, because I know better than that. My experience of the parties is bad, very bad.
Political parties have tried to recruit me, on several occasions, ever since I quit Labour in 2015. I have been independent of the big political parties ever since 2015. Apart from two months. that is.
Having met a few of their people, I was impressed by some of them. After the 2024 General Election, I joined Reform UK to see what it was like on the inside, and to see whether it was full of racists, fascists and incompetents, as alleged by many.
It wasn't full of racists and fascists but some of the people I met, and the attitudes that I heard, were definitely racist and some were definitely fascist. I found this deeply disturbing and it confirmed my worst fears.
What I also found was a massive amount of incompetence and disorganisation.
And a cult. A cult of Nigel Farage and his love for Margaret Thatcher and her disastrous approach to changing our country that damaged so many millions of people's lives. And still does - just look at the impact of privatised water, privatised trains and buses, privatised gas, privatised roads, privatised electricity and more! The Tories would privatise their grannies. It's chaos!
So I believe now that is what Reform UK is really about - bringing back Thatcherism which did our country so much harm the first time. The new Hampshire Reform UK councillor that is their group leader, George Madgwick, has consistently broken employment law, as reported by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
I had hoped that I could help Reform UK to be a truly new force in Southampton, and that it could have a diversity of views on policy.
But I couldn't do that. Because it isn't. And it couldn't.
As another supporter of mine reminded me, Reform is an anagram of "former". Reform is just another bunch of Tories, as proved by the recruitment of so many ex-Tory MPs and councillors, and George Madgwick fits that mould too.
I was being over-optimistic and I even agreed with local members to be the Reform UK candidate in the 2024 Shirley ward council by-election. But they couldn't even get me through their national incompetent vetting process properly or in good time, through no fault of mine. What a blessing in disguise that was!
I failed their candidate vetting, which they rushed and got wrong. I was not given any reason. In fact, I had to put them under extreme pressure to get any reasons, which took them months to provide when I had to threaten to go to the Information Commissioner. They were incompetent.
But it was a relief and was irrelevant anyway that I failed the vetting because I had already quit when I saw their incompetence, and the racism and fascism of some of the Reform members.
It was clear to me that they were so disorganised and incompetent, that I could not have solved it on my own. Like when I quit Labour and refused to be in the Council's Cabinet, I would have been one of the few competent people, surrounded by ineptitude.
All big political parties seem to be the same.
All riddled with corruption, as proved by the Greens' Zack Polanski failing to pay council tax and lying about voting, Reform UK's Nigel Farage failing to declare £5 MILLION, and local Southampton Labour MP Satvir Kaur taking £10,000 from a convicted criminal.
Perhaps Reform UK is different now, nearly two years later. But I doubt it.
Because what I saw was ugly, very ugly indeed.
Ugliness plus some racists, some fascists, Thatcherites, disorganisation and incompetence.
That is what Reform UK was about then.
But like I say, maybe it is different now. Or maybe not.
Ever since 2015, I have been independent of the big political parties. Those nightmarish two months reminded me why I do not want to be a member of the big political parties and what Reform UK truly is.
I cannot see me ever joining a big political party again, unless things change massively.
Being independent is what many residents respect, and I agree with them."