Cllr Simon Minas-Bound is the Leader of the Conservative Group on Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.
Local elections are not won on ideology alone. They are won on trust.
Over recent years, alongside leading the opposition on a large district council in the South East, I have trained councillors from across the political spectrum – Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Greens, Independents and Reform – in leadership, governance and decision-making.
Those sessions are not abstract. They deal with the realities councillors face every week: planning rows, tight budgets, angry residents, and institutions that many voters no longer trust.
What they have shown me, repeatedly, is this: local election outcomes are increasingly shaped by how parties lead, not just what they believe. And at present, Conservatives are leaving space on the battlefield that others, particularly Reform, are rushing to fill.
Conservatives lose when we sound managerial, not meaningful
In council chambers and training rooms alike, Conservatives tend to be strongest where governance is complex.
We understand:
That should be an electoral advantage. Too often, it is not.
Why? Because on the doorstep, Conservatives can sound like explainers rather than leaders. We justify decisions correctly, but emotionally flatly. We talk about process when residents want purpose. We defend the system when voters are questioning whether it works for them at all.
Labour tends to frame everything as a moral cause. Liberal Democrats localise relentlessly. Independents personalise everything. Reform simplifies — often recklessly — but memorably.
Conservatives are frequently the only ones telling the whole truth — and the only ones failing to connect it to values.
Being right does not win local elections. Being trusted does.
Reform is exploiting a Conservative gap — not replacing Conservatism
Reform’s local election appeal is not primarily ideological. It is relational.
In training settings, Reform councillors are often sceptical of institutions, dismissive of process, and impatient with complexity. That makes them weak at governance — but strong at grievance.
Their message is simple:
That message lands when Conservatives sound like custodians of a system people feel excluded from.
The strategic mistake would be to chase Reform’s rhetoric. Protest politics does not survive contact with planning committees, budget scrutiny or legal reality. But dismissing Reform voters as unserious is just as dangerous.
Reform is what fills the space when Conservatism forgets how to speak human.
The Conservative advantage – if we choose to use it
Conservatives actually hold the strongest local electoral hand — if we play it properly.
We are uniquely placed to say:
But to turn that into votes, Conservatives must reconnect competence to care.
That means:
This is One Nation Conservatism at its most electorally effective.
Opposition strategy: where elections are really won.
Many Conservative groups now face elections from opposition — often against Labour / Lib Dem administrations and noisy Reform challengers.
Opposition campaigns fail when they become protest campaigns.
Residents do not want a louder opposition. They want a credible alternative.
From cross-party leadership work, one pattern is clear: opposition groups that win locally do three things consistently:
Reform struggles here. Protest politics is easy. Responsible opposition is not.
Conservatives should dominate this space. But only if we resist the temptation to mirror outrage politics.
Empathy is not weakness — it is electoral discipline
One of the biggest Conservative blind spots in local campaigns is discomfort with empathy.
Empathy does not mean promising the impossible. It means acknowledging frustration before explaining constraint.
Other parties instinctively do this. Reform weaponises it. Conservatives often skip it.
On the doorstep, that sounds like indifference — even when it isn’t.
One Nation Conservatism was always about stewardship: taking responsibility for the whole community, not just those who agree with us. Stewardship requires empathy, not as sentiment, but as discipline.
Without it, Conservative messages sound managerial — and Reform fills the emotional gap.
The strategic choice ahead
Local elections will not be won by shouting louder, being purer, or performing outrage more convincingly than Reform.
They will be won by Conservatives who:
When Conservatives lead like this, Reform’s offer collapses under scrutiny — because seriousness beats slogans when residents are choosing who they trust to run their council.
Local government is where Conservative renewal will either begin — or be blocked.
The choice is not between competence and connection.
The winning strategy is having the confidence to offer both.