Sir Mel Stride MP is Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The local elections were bruising for our party.
It is always difficult seeing dedicated Conservative councillors losing their seats. But then after the worst general election defeat in our history just two years ago, nobody should expect the road back to be smooth or short. The hard yards of reviving and renewing our party must continue.
What last week’s results underscored is that we are living through a volatile, fragmented, multi-party age.
This has a couple of important implications.
Firstly, that no one can extrapolate ahead to the result of a General Election that is over three years away with any certainty.
Things can change rapidly and there is all to play for. Secondly, that small numbers matter. None of the parties in these elections carried a huge slice of the popular vote – including Reform whose vote share actually fell from 32 per cent in the 2025 elections to 27 per cent in these, whilst ours went from 18 per cent to 20 per cent. And, as we know, with First Past the Post a shift of just a few percent can produce a massive change in seats.
Amidst the noise, there were clear signs of progress.
In Westminster, we won back the council from Labour with a convincing result. In Wandsworth, we once again emerged as the largest party. In places like Harlow, where Reform confidently predicted they would sweep the board, they failed to win a single seat while Conservatives won every single one of them. In Bexley, voters rejected Reform’s empty promises and backed experienced Conservative leadership instead.
These results matter because they point to something important: that there is still a market for seriousness. That populism without a plan has a soft underbelly. One that grown up politics can puncture.
The key task now facing the Conservatives is continuing to demonstrate that seriousness – that is our way through. Being honest about the challenges we face, showing that we are the grown-ups in the room, and that we have the right plans to radically re-wire our economy to the benefit of us all.
The business of renewal is not easy. It means doing the deep thinking. Facing uncomfortable truths. Building credible plans that can actually work.
It means understanding that Britain’s problems cannot be solved through fury alone. Debunking the fantasies and falsehoods we hear from other parties whilst demonstrating a far better alternative to the current Labour government, based on Conservative principles and properly thought through plans. A Conservative vision of the future with aspiration and opportunity at its heart.
Reform offers plenty of anger but remarkably few answers.
They promise tax cuts, spending increases and painless solutions all at once – fantasy economics for which the numbers do not add up. We have already seen what happens when populists collide with the realities of office. In Worcestershire, Reform-backed councillors ended up hiking council tax by 9 per cent after campaigning as anti-tax crusaders.
And the Greens? Increasingly they resemble a Jeremy Corbyn tribute act – addicted to the kind of ideological politics that would leave Britain poorer. And both Reform and the Greens peddle division. The former threatening those who don’t vote for them with immigrant deportation centres and the latter a disgusting streak of antisemitism and sectarianism.
But people’s concerns are real enough and need to be addressed. Taxes are too high. Growth is weak. There is, increasingly, a burning sense of unfairness. That some are able to get thousands in benefits while others work hard and pay ever higher taxes to fund the ballooning benefits bill. That young people are locked out of opportunity by a stagnant jobs market, unaffordable housing and a broken higher education system. That businesses are suffocated by costs and red tape and high streets are being hollowed out.
These problems are real. People are right to be angry. That is why the Conservatives, under Kemi’s leadership, are offering real solutions that are ambitious but deliverable and fully costed.
We need to get Britain working again.
We have set out a plan to reform welfare and take £23 billion out of the benefits bill, built around a simple principle: if you can work, you should work. Last week we set out further details of how we would achieve that, by tightening up the household benefit cap and ensuring households where someone could be working are not getting more in benefits than those who are in jobs and paying taxes.
The savings from those plans, and other policies we have set out including spending far less on sending aid overseas and slimming down the civil service, are crucial. They are why we have been able to set out a credible plan to start turning our economy around and to back aspiration and hard work in our country.
Abolishing stamp duty when you buy your home, freeing up the housing market to help young families and boost productivity. Abolishing business rates for thousands of pubs, shops and restaurants to reinvigorate our local high streets. A First Job Bonus which cuts taxes for young people when they move into work. A Cheap Power Plan to ditch carbon taxes and cut bills for households and businesses. An Apprenticeship Guarantee, creating 100,000 more young apprenticeships. And putting more money into defence so we can boost the size of our armed forces and improve our security.
And importantly, at least half of the savings we have identified are set aside for reducing the deficit, what we call our Golden Economic Rule. Unlike other parties, we do not just complain about Labour’s profligacy and the rising national debt while making unfunded promises. We believe that it is simply dishonest to criticise high borrowing without setting out what you would do about it. We are the only party with a serious plan to both fix our economy and fix the public finances as well.
This is what serious politics looks like.
You see it in Parliament as well. Conservatives have forced repeated U-turns from this Labour government – on winter fuel payments, on family farms, on tax and spending decisions, and most recently on their dangerous attempts to dictate how pension funds invest people’s savings. While others posture online, we are holding the government to account where it actually matters. Meanwhile Reform MPs are often nowhere to be seen when critical votes happen in Parliament.
Kemi is rebuilding our party around seriousness, clarity and conviction. That is our path back into government. We must show the public we understand the challenges that they and the country are facing, and that we are doing the deep thinking to deliver it. That we can once again be trusted.
The local election results showed frustration, volatility and anger. We hear that message loud and clear.
But they also showed something else.
Where Conservatives demonstrate seriousness, competence and a plan for the future, voters are willing to listen again. There is a long way to go to the next General Election. We have a way through and step by step we are taking it.
Sir Mel Stride MP is Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The local elections were bruising for our party.
It is always difficult seeing dedicated Conservative councillors losing their seats. But then after the worst general election defeat in our history just two years ago, nobody should expect the road back to be smooth or short. The hard yards of reviving and renewing our party must continue.
What last week’s results underscored is that we are living through a volatile, fragmented, multi-party age.
This has a couple of important implications.
Firstly, that no one can extrapolate ahead to the result of a General Election that is over three years away with any certainty.
Things can change rapidly and there is all to play for. Secondly, that small numbers matter. None of the parties in these elections carried a huge slice of the popular vote – including Reform whose vote share actually fell from 32 per cent in the 2025 elections to 27 per cent in these, whilst ours went from 18 per cent to 20 per cent. And, as we know, with First Past the Post a shift of just a few percent can produce a massive change in seats.
Amidst the noise, there were clear signs of progress.
In Westminster, we won back the council from Labour with a convincing result. In Wandsworth, we once again emerged as the largest party. In places like Harlow, where Reform confidently predicted they would sweep the board, they failed to win a single seat while Conservatives won every single one of them. In Bexley, voters rejected Reform’s empty promises and backed experienced Conservative leadership instead.
These results matter because they point to something important: that there is still a market for seriousness. That populism without a plan has a soft underbelly. One that grown up politics can puncture.
The key task now facing the Conservatives is continuing to demonstrate that seriousness – that is our way through. Being honest about the challenges we face, showing that we are the grown-ups in the room, and that we have the right plans to radically re-wire our economy to the benefit of us all.
The business of renewal is not easy. It means doing the deep thinking. Facing uncomfortable truths. Building credible plans that can actually work.
It means understanding that Britain’s problems cannot be solved through fury alone. Debunking the fantasies and falsehoods we hear from other parties whilst demonstrating a far better alternative to the current Labour government, based on Conservative principles and properly thought through plans. A Conservative vision of the future with aspiration and opportunity at its heart.
Reform offers plenty of anger but remarkably few answers.
They promise tax cuts, spending increases and painless solutions all at once – fantasy economics for which the numbers do not add up. We have already seen what happens when populists collide with the realities of office. In Worcestershire, Reform-backed councillors ended up hiking council tax by 9 per cent after campaigning as anti-tax crusaders.
And the Greens? Increasingly they resemble a Jeremy Corbyn tribute act – addicted to the kind of ideological politics that would leave Britain poorer. And both Reform and the Greens peddle division. The former threatening those who don’t vote for them with immigrant deportation centres and the latter a disgusting streak of antisemitism and sectarianism.
But people’s concerns are real enough and need to be addressed. Taxes are too high. Growth is weak. There is, increasingly, a burning sense of unfairness. That some are able to get thousands in benefits while others work hard and pay ever higher taxes to fund the ballooning benefits bill. That young people are locked out of opportunity by a stagnant jobs market, unaffordable housing and a broken higher education system. That businesses are suffocated by costs and red tape and high streets are being hollowed out.
These problems are real. People are right to be angry. That is why the Conservatives, under Kemi’s leadership, are offering real solutions that are ambitious but deliverable and fully costed.
We need to get Britain working again.
We have set out a plan to reform welfare and take £23 billion out of the benefits bill, built around a simple principle: if you can work, you should work. Last week we set out further details of how we would achieve that, by tightening up the household benefit cap and ensuring households where someone could be working are not getting more in benefits than those who are in jobs and paying taxes.
The savings from those plans, and other policies we have set out including spending far less on sending aid overseas and slimming down the civil service, are crucial. They are why we have been able to set out a credible plan to start turning our economy around and to back aspiration and hard work in our country.
Abolishing stamp duty when you buy your home, freeing up the housing market to help young families and boost productivity. Abolishing business rates for thousands of pubs, shops and restaurants to reinvigorate our local high streets. A First Job Bonus which cuts taxes for young people when they move into work. A Cheap Power Plan to ditch carbon taxes and cut bills for households and businesses. An Apprenticeship Guarantee, creating 100,000 more young apprenticeships. And putting more money into defence so we can boost the size of our armed forces and improve our security.
And importantly, at least half of the savings we have identified are set aside for reducing the deficit, what we call our Golden Economic Rule. Unlike other parties, we do not just complain about Labour’s profligacy and the rising national debt while making unfunded promises. We believe that it is simply dishonest to criticise high borrowing without setting out what you would do about it. We are the only party with a serious plan to both fix our economy and fix the public finances as well.
This is what serious politics looks like.
You see it in Parliament as well. Conservatives have forced repeated U-turns from this Labour government – on winter fuel payments, on family farms, on tax and spending decisions, and most recently on their dangerous attempts to dictate how pension funds invest people’s savings. While others posture online, we are holding the government to account where it actually matters. Meanwhile Reform MPs are often nowhere to be seen when critical votes happen in Parliament.
Kemi is rebuilding our party around seriousness, clarity and conviction. That is our path back into government. We must show the public we understand the challenges that they and the country are facing, and that we are doing the deep thinking to deliver it. That we can once again be trusted.
The local election results showed frustration, volatility and anger. We hear that message loud and clear.
But they also showed something else.
Where Conservatives demonstrate seriousness, competence and a plan for the future, voters are willing to listen again. There is a long way to go to the next General Election. We have a way through and step by step we are taking it.