Kevin Hollinrake MP is the Chairman of the Conservative Party.
People are fed up with politics. In a world where so much needs fixing, the instinct to switch off or to cast a protest vote just to make a point is completely understandable.
But local elections have real consequences.
The council you elect will run your bin collections, look after the elderly and those with special needs, repair your roads and set your council tax for the next four years. These are not small things, and the difference between good and bad councils is huge.
Good Conservative councils have shown that difference.
The only councils in England freezing council tax this year are Conservative run. Our Harlow council has frozen council tax for the fifth year running. Hampshire County Council repaired 70,000 road defects in the past twelve months. Kensington and Chelsea found £21 million in savings. Walsall is installing 70 new CCTV cameras and driving down antisocial behaviour. Solihull is now in the top ten locations in the country for high-growth business potential.
Conservative councils are backed by a national plan that will build a Stronger Economy and a Stronger Country. We would abolish business rates for tens of thousands of high street businesses, scrap stamp duty on the family home and cut energy bills through our Cheap Power Plan by drilling in the North Sea, removing green taxes and resist Labour’s fuel duty rise. We would recruit 10,000 more police officers, triple stop and search and make criminals clean up their own mess. We would reverse the family farm tax and fund a bigger army by cutting the out-of-control benefits bill.
Now look at what everyone else is offering.
Labour-run Birmingham turned a bin dispute into a national scandal, burning through £33 million of taxpayers money while rubbish piled up and rats took to the streets.
Labour-run Nottingham bankrupted itself setting up a vanity energy company and residents are still paying the price. In St Helens, Labour fixed just three per cent of the roads they had earmarked for repair. Three per cent.
Polanski’s Greens are even worse. They seem to be more interested in solving the problems of the Middle East and taking part in Hate Marches than running your local services.
The Liberal Democrats have become a party of stunts. Ed Davey and his team often seem more comfortable on a jet ski or a hobby horse than answering serious questions about their record. When asked why council tax has gone up 7.5 per cent in Windsor and Maidenhead, with another 10 per cent planned next year, or why a four-day week in South Cambridgeshire was a good use of public money, or why restricting cars in Oxford for most of the year makes sense, the answers are hard to find.
Then there is Reform.
Just last week, it emerged that Nigel Farage received £5 million from a crypto billionaire weeks before the 2024 general election and did not declare it which is why we have referred the matter to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner.
Farage says he has done nothing wrong. Fine. Then explain it. Defend it. Go on television and make the case. But he has not done that. He pulled out of Laura Kuenssberg’s programme just days before a national election with no proper explanation. He bottled it. He ran scared.
Maybe he does not want to answer questions about donations. Or maybe he does not want to defend Reform’s record where they have actually run councils.
In Worcestershire, council tax went up by nine per cent, the highest increase in the country. Farage himself has said he regrets running the council. Their so-called efficiency drives in Kent and Staffordshire promised big savings, only to discover those savings had already been made, forcing them to raise taxes instead. In Leicestershire, they spent £1.4 million on a report that found £1 million in savings. In Durham, they are planning stealth tax rises through higher fees on everything from garden waste to rat control.
And in places like Wandsworth, the choice is even clearer. A vote for Reform there is a vote for Labour. In fact, in so many areas inside London and out, every vote for Reform makes it easier for Labour to win.
Now, we know these elections are going to be tough. We could lose some good hardworking councillors, for the sins of the party nationally in the past. Nobody wants to see that and we can still change it. By getting out there delivering leaflets, knocking on doors, calling, telling at polling stations, running committee rooms and fighting for every last Conservative vote.
I am not pretending the last few years were perfect. They were not and I have never claimed otherwise. But the Conservative Party is under new leadership. It has done the hard work in opposition, developed real policies and our councils across the country are proving every day that we know how to deliver.
That is the choice on Thursday. Vote for the people who are going to Get Britain Working Again.
Vote Conservative.
Kevin Hollinrake MP is the Chairman of the Conservative Party.
People are fed up with politics. In a world where so much needs fixing, the instinct to switch off or to cast a protest vote just to make a point is completely understandable.
But local elections have real consequences.
The council you elect will run your bin collections, look after the elderly and those with special needs, repair your roads and set your council tax for the next four years. These are not small things, and the difference between good and bad councils is huge.
Good Conservative councils have shown that difference.
The only councils in England freezing council tax this year are Conservative run. Our Harlow council has frozen council tax for the fifth year running. Hampshire County Council repaired 70,000 road defects in the past twelve months. Kensington and Chelsea found £21 million in savings. Walsall is installing 70 new CCTV cameras and driving down antisocial behaviour. Solihull is now in the top ten locations in the country for high-growth business potential.
Conservative councils are backed by a national plan that will build a Stronger Economy and a Stronger Country. We would abolish business rates for tens of thousands of high street businesses, scrap stamp duty on the family home and cut energy bills through our Cheap Power Plan by drilling in the North Sea, removing green taxes and resist Labour’s fuel duty rise. We would recruit 10,000 more police officers, triple stop and search and make criminals clean up their own mess. We would reverse the family farm tax and fund a bigger army by cutting the out-of-control benefits bill.
Now look at what everyone else is offering.
Labour-run Birmingham turned a bin dispute into a national scandal, burning through £33 million of taxpayers money while rubbish piled up and rats took to the streets.
Labour-run Nottingham bankrupted itself setting up a vanity energy company and residents are still paying the price. In St Helens, Labour fixed just three per cent of the roads they had earmarked for repair. Three per cent.
Polanski’s Greens are even worse. They seem to be more interested in solving the problems of the Middle East and taking part in Hate Marches than running your local services.
The Liberal Democrats have become a party of stunts. Ed Davey and his team often seem more comfortable on a jet ski or a hobby horse than answering serious questions about their record. When asked why council tax has gone up 7.5 per cent in Windsor and Maidenhead, with another 10 per cent planned next year, or why a four-day week in South Cambridgeshire was a good use of public money, or why restricting cars in Oxford for most of the year makes sense, the answers are hard to find.
Then there is Reform.
Just last week, it emerged that Nigel Farage received £5 million from a crypto billionaire weeks before the 2024 general election and did not declare it which is why we have referred the matter to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner.
Farage says he has done nothing wrong. Fine. Then explain it. Defend it. Go on television and make the case. But he has not done that. He pulled out of Laura Kuenssberg’s programme just days before a national election with no proper explanation. He bottled it. He ran scared.
Maybe he does not want to answer questions about donations. Or maybe he does not want to defend Reform’s record where they have actually run councils.
In Worcestershire, council tax went up by nine per cent, the highest increase in the country. Farage himself has said he regrets running the council. Their so-called efficiency drives in Kent and Staffordshire promised big savings, only to discover those savings had already been made, forcing them to raise taxes instead. In Leicestershire, they spent £1.4 million on a report that found £1 million in savings. In Durham, they are planning stealth tax rises through higher fees on everything from garden waste to rat control.
And in places like Wandsworth, the choice is even clearer. A vote for Reform there is a vote for Labour. In fact, in so many areas inside London and out, every vote for Reform makes it easier for Labour to win.
Now, we know these elections are going to be tough. We could lose some good hardworking councillors, for the sins of the party nationally in the past. Nobody wants to see that and we can still change it. By getting out there delivering leaflets, knocking on doors, calling, telling at polling stations, running committee rooms and fighting for every last Conservative vote.
I am not pretending the last few years were perfect. They were not and I have never claimed otherwise. But the Conservative Party is under new leadership. It has done the hard work in opposition, developed real policies and our councils across the country are proving every day that we know how to deliver.
That is the choice on Thursday. Vote for the people who are going to Get Britain Working Again.
Vote Conservative.