Amy C. Selman is a former policy adviser to the former Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.
This is the second part of an ongoing short series on Local Government, entitled ‘Why should I care?’ you can read part one here.
“Bad officials are the ones elected by good citizens who do not vote.” George Jean Nathan (1951)
On the doorstep for the 2026 local elections, we heard familiar refrains: “I’m not interested in politics“; “I’m not going to vote, they are all as bad as each other“. Perhaps the constituent offers a detailed critique of national failures. Then, with prodding, a litany of local issues: council tax rises, parking permits, irregular recycling.
Permeating the conversation is their reasonable (and shared), election fatigue. The 21st Century has been a rollercoaster of polls and referendums. MPs have scrutinised five Acts to amend our voting system. Successive Prime Ministers dangle voting reform to appease parts of their political party. In his two 2026 Acts Kier Starmer heeded advice from his former Health Secretary and rival, Wes Streeting in 2023
“If I was ruthlessly focused on the pursuit of the top job, I’d tack left. You win the Labour leadership from the left… Successful leaders meet the party where it is, then take it on a journey to where the country is. That’s what Keir did when he won the leadership, and he’s taken the party on a journey back to where the public are. That’s what successful leaders do.”
Change can bring innovation.
As a voter in the North of England, the benefits of former Chancellor George Osborne’s devolution revolution are evident: our Metro Mayors improve a region’s economy as well as its autonomy. Change can bring choice, with many of this year’s local elections now five-party races. It can confuse: 2026 local campaigns were dominated by national issues and national leaders.
A constituency with evident change is that of Dan Jarvis MBE MP in Barnsley North. The new Secretary of State for Defence won comfortably in the 2024 General Election (turnout, 47.1%). As did his Labour constituency neighbour, Stephanie Peacock MP (turnout 46.2%). Jarvis knows the patch well (increasing investment as a former Mayor of South Yorkshire). There was nothing comfortable about May’s full council elections. Labour lost 37 councillors, and overall control. The Conservative Party lost their only councillor. Gaining 42 councillors, Reform UK is now in office in Barnsley. The turnout was 37.25%.
Labour ran a clever campaign on the dangers Reform UK posed. Reform ran the same leaflet in several local seats, written in jargon, with very few tangible pledges. A big swing in vote often disguises the reasons to care. The data reminds us of the importance of campaign basics.
Turn out matters. Make time to mobilise our base: Get the basics right. Use targeted research co-ordinated with CCHQ, and information and impressions from local members.
Charlotte Williams, CEO, Station House Community Centre, Barnsley said this year “I hear it quite often – people say, ‘nothing changes for us’ [so] why would you take time and effort to go and vote if you think nothing’s going to change?”
| Result |
Type of Election |
Turnout data |
Trend |
| 2024 MPs:
2 Labour |
General |
47.1%
(Barnsley North)
Majority: 21.2%
46.2%
(Barnsley South) |
· Yorkshire & the Humber turnout was 55.7%, down from 64.2% in 2019.
· Barnsley South had one of the twenty lowest turnouts in the UK.
National:
· Liberal Democrat wins only occurred in seats where turnout was 60% or higher.
|
| 2026 Cllrs:
42 Reform UK
11 Labour
08 Lib Dem
02 Ind. |
Local
(full council – 63 seats) |
37.25%
(Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council) |
· 23,376 postal votes returned, 33% of total turnout.
· Labour’s Sir Stephen Houghton won by 23 votes (former Leader of the Council, 1996 – 2026).
· Liberal Democrats won 5 of 6 seats in the two wards with high turnout (48.7% & 43%).
National:
· Turnout increased by 8% from seat’s previous election.
· Labour retained seats with the lowest turnout increase (6.2%).
· 46% of 2024 Labour voters voted Labour in 2026.
· 55% of 2024 Conservative voters voted Conservative in 2026.
to the right:
· Reform UK won seats with the highest turnout increase (10.7%).
· Reform UK won 798 seats from Labour, & 471 from the Conservatives.
· 6% of 2024 Labour voters switched to Reform.
to the left:
· The Liberal Democrats won 151 seats from the Conservatives.
· The Greens won 439 seats from Labour.
· 22% of 2024 Labour voters switched to the Greens; 16% switched to the Liberal Democrats |
CCHQ could help with research and information capture by commissioning detailed MRP regression research in seats lost to the left, Liberal Democrats, and to the right, Reform UK. This examines drivers of vote. It may throw up unexpected results. It will enable strategic plans and framing for new Opposition teams. They can also build a simple online forum – with hard copy & and telephone options. Ask Party Members to brainstorm the reactions and questions they had on the doorstep; and enter in a secure, searchable database.
Voter engagement matters. We need to test and learn how to motivate groups of swing voters.
Getting on the pitch is vital. Local campaigns need strategy and funding from CCHQ, but also tactics and insight from local members. As Peggy Noonan, Special Assistant to President Reagan said back in 2008:
“Our political leaders will know our priorities only if we tell them, again and again, and if those priorities begin to show up in the polls.”
The marketing ‘Rule of Seven’ holds in the digital age: if you repeat the same message seven times, the voter may hear it once.
As a Parliamentary staffer, we geekily drafted bingo cards for set piece events like the Budget, marking how many times a Chancellor would repeat ‘the fiscal rules’ or ‘Long-Term Economic Plan’. As a City Hall staffer, we knew the Mayor of London was in the bad books when other people’s interviews included the line: “Well, Boris is a good friend and a great Mayor of London, but on this he is wrong‘. Sir Kier Starmer tried to instil his commitment to ‘working people’ in the 2024 campaign. Instead, “my father was a toolmaker“, caught on. Once agreed on the mantras, the updated Rule relies on targeted use of channels.
CCHQ could and should help with training and support. They could nominate, train and support designated regional spokespeople. On the ground, that designated spokesperson would provide grassroots opposition, monitoring the new council’s use of time, resources, and taxes, their manifesto pledges and programme of work, publication of statements, Q&A, and Freedom of Information releases.
Delivery matters. Record in real-time mistakes & complaints.
You need to give your councillors a nudge! Former councillors know where the bodies are buried, and which questions to ask. And follow the money. As Lord Bingham said citing John Philpot Curran two hundred years later:
“It is an old but true saying that the condition upon which liberty has been given to man is eternal vigilance.”
James Higginbottom Labour Group Leader on Barnsley Council asked:
“I want to know what Reform’s policies are if I’m brutally honest. We’ve not had the details of that. They ran on a manifesto that they were going to drop council tax. That got mysteriously dropped as we got nearer to the election… I’m not aware of any so-called ‘woke’ policies that are costing the council millions each year that they are going to be able to make savings on. What they ran on was pretty thin in detail.”
Analysis of the 2026 local election campaigns will be useful for those in town halls.
It should not delay effective opposition. Local members are best placed to decide the tactics that work in their patch. The daily grind of local and regional government requires a different skillset from surface level political point-scoring. Both Reform UK and the Green Party ran on national issues and watched national polling. This worked well in the councils they won (Reform UK,14; Greens, 5). This year’s circumstances allowed an ‘outsider’ pitch – that was issued on repeat by both of their Makerfield by-election candidates. In four years, their record will be on the table. Our campaigns should start now.
How the Shadow Communities (MHCLG) Team could help:
Ensure Conservatives have a seat at every government table. The devil is in the detail, and a string of secondary legislation will be nodded through in Westminster. The Shadow MHCLG Team could ensure that the Official Opposition has a seat at the table, including in areas without a strong local Conservative presence such as Local Scrutiny Committees for Mayors & Combined Authorities (2027/ 28). Accountability mechanisms after the abolition of Police & Crime Commissioners. Any new structures created within local government reform.
In one word, why should I care? Vigilance. What the eye doesn’t see others get away with.
Amy C. Selman is a former policy adviser to the former Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.
This is the second part of an ongoing short series on Local Government, entitled ‘Why should I care?’ you can read part one here.
“Bad officials are the ones elected by good citizens who do not vote.” George Jean Nathan (1951)
On the doorstep for the 2026 local elections, we heard familiar refrains: “I’m not interested in politics“; “I’m not going to vote, they are all as bad as each other“. Perhaps the constituent offers a detailed critique of national failures. Then, with prodding, a litany of local issues: council tax rises, parking permits, irregular recycling.
Permeating the conversation is their reasonable (and shared), election fatigue. The 21st Century has been a rollercoaster of polls and referendums. MPs have scrutinised five Acts to amend our voting system. Successive Prime Ministers dangle voting reform to appease parts of their political party. In his two 2026 Acts Kier Starmer heeded advice from his former Health Secretary and rival, Wes Streeting in 2023
“If I was ruthlessly focused on the pursuit of the top job, I’d tack left. You win the Labour leadership from the left… Successful leaders meet the party where it is, then take it on a journey to where the country is. That’s what Keir did when he won the leadership, and he’s taken the party on a journey back to where the public are. That’s what successful leaders do.”
Change can bring innovation.
As a voter in the North of England, the benefits of former Chancellor George Osborne’s devolution revolution are evident: our Metro Mayors improve a region’s economy as well as its autonomy. Change can bring choice, with many of this year’s local elections now five-party races. It can confuse: 2026 local campaigns were dominated by national issues and national leaders.
A constituency with evident change is that of Dan Jarvis MBE MP in Barnsley North. The new Secretary of State for Defence won comfortably in the 2024 General Election (turnout, 47.1%). As did his Labour constituency neighbour, Stephanie Peacock MP (turnout 46.2%). Jarvis knows the patch well (increasing investment as a former Mayor of South Yorkshire). There was nothing comfortable about May’s full council elections. Labour lost 37 councillors, and overall control. The Conservative Party lost their only councillor. Gaining 42 councillors, Reform UK is now in office in Barnsley. The turnout was 37.25%.
Labour ran a clever campaign on the dangers Reform UK posed. Reform ran the same leaflet in several local seats, written in jargon, with very few tangible pledges. A big swing in vote often disguises the reasons to care. The data reminds us of the importance of campaign basics.
Turn out matters. Make time to mobilise our base: Get the basics right. Use targeted research co-ordinated with CCHQ, and information and impressions from local members.
Charlotte Williams, CEO, Station House Community Centre, Barnsley said this year “I hear it quite often – people say, ‘nothing changes for us’ [so] why would you take time and effort to go and vote if you think nothing’s going to change?”
2 Labour
(Barnsley North)
Majority: 21.2%
46.2%
(Barnsley South)
· Barnsley South had one of the twenty lowest turnouts in the UK.
National:
· Liberal Democrat wins only occurred in seats where turnout was 60% or higher.
42 Reform UK
11 Labour
08 Lib Dem
02 Ind.
(full council – 63 seats)
(Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council)
· Labour’s Sir Stephen Houghton won by 23 votes (former Leader of the Council, 1996 – 2026).
· Liberal Democrats won 5 of 6 seats in the two wards with high turnout (48.7% & 43%).
National:
· Turnout increased by 8% from seat’s previous election.
· Labour retained seats with the lowest turnout increase (6.2%).
· 46% of 2024 Labour voters voted Labour in 2026.
· 55% of 2024 Conservative voters voted Conservative in 2026.
to the right:
· Reform UK won seats with the highest turnout increase (10.7%).
· Reform UK won 798 seats from Labour, & 471 from the Conservatives.
· 6% of 2024 Labour voters switched to Reform.
to the left:
· The Liberal Democrats won 151 seats from the Conservatives.
· The Greens won 439 seats from Labour.
· 22% of 2024 Labour voters switched to the Greens; 16% switched to the Liberal Democrats
CCHQ could help with research and information capture by commissioning detailed MRP regression research in seats lost to the left, Liberal Democrats, and to the right, Reform UK. This examines drivers of vote. It may throw up unexpected results. It will enable strategic plans and framing for new Opposition teams. They can also build a simple online forum – with hard copy & and telephone options. Ask Party Members to brainstorm the reactions and questions they had on the doorstep; and enter in a secure, searchable database.
Voter engagement matters. We need to test and learn how to motivate groups of swing voters.
Getting on the pitch is vital. Local campaigns need strategy and funding from CCHQ, but also tactics and insight from local members. As Peggy Noonan, Special Assistant to President Reagan said back in 2008:
“Our political leaders will know our priorities only if we tell them, again and again, and if those priorities begin to show up in the polls.”
The marketing ‘Rule of Seven’ holds in the digital age: if you repeat the same message seven times, the voter may hear it once.
As a Parliamentary staffer, we geekily drafted bingo cards for set piece events like the Budget, marking how many times a Chancellor would repeat ‘the fiscal rules’ or ‘Long-Term Economic Plan’. As a City Hall staffer, we knew the Mayor of London was in the bad books when other people’s interviews included the line: “Well, Boris is a good friend and a great Mayor of London, but on this he is wrong‘. Sir Kier Starmer tried to instil his commitment to ‘working people’ in the 2024 campaign. Instead, “my father was a toolmaker“, caught on. Once agreed on the mantras, the updated Rule relies on targeted use of channels.
CCHQ could and should help with training and support. They could nominate, train and support designated regional spokespeople. On the ground, that designated spokesperson would provide grassroots opposition, monitoring the new council’s use of time, resources, and taxes, their manifesto pledges and programme of work, publication of statements, Q&A, and Freedom of Information releases.
Delivery matters. Record in real-time mistakes & complaints.
You need to give your councillors a nudge! Former councillors know where the bodies are buried, and which questions to ask. And follow the money. As Lord Bingham said citing John Philpot Curran two hundred years later:
“It is an old but true saying that the condition upon which liberty has been given to man is eternal vigilance.”
James Higginbottom Labour Group Leader on Barnsley Council asked:
“I want to know what Reform’s policies are if I’m brutally honest. We’ve not had the details of that. They ran on a manifesto that they were going to drop council tax. That got mysteriously dropped as we got nearer to the election… I’m not aware of any so-called ‘woke’ policies that are costing the council millions each year that they are going to be able to make savings on. What they ran on was pretty thin in detail.”
Analysis of the 2026 local election campaigns will be useful for those in town halls.
It should not delay effective opposition. Local members are best placed to decide the tactics that work in their patch. The daily grind of local and regional government requires a different skillset from surface level political point-scoring. Both Reform UK and the Green Party ran on national issues and watched national polling. This worked well in the councils they won (Reform UK,14; Greens, 5). This year’s circumstances allowed an ‘outsider’ pitch – that was issued on repeat by both of their Makerfield by-election candidates. In four years, their record will be on the table. Our campaigns should start now.
How the Shadow Communities (MHCLG) Team could help:
Ensure Conservatives have a seat at every government table. The devil is in the detail, and a string of secondary legislation will be nodded through in Westminster. The Shadow MHCLG Team could ensure that the Official Opposition has a seat at the table, including in areas without a strong local Conservative presence such as Local Scrutiny Committees for Mayors & Combined Authorities (2027/ 28). Accountability mechanisms after the abolition of Police & Crime Commissioners. Any new structures created within local government reform.
In one word, why should I care? Vigilance. What the eye doesn’t see others get away with.