Tory councillor ‘more worried about Greens’ than Reform at 2025 local elections

Green candidates could thwart the Tories successful assembly elections adjacent year, a elder councillor has said.

At the Conservative Party’s league successful Birmingham, Phil Broadhead told activists that voters had “got a batch of their choler retired of their system” astatine July’s wide election.

The Conservative Councillors’ Association president described Nigel Farage’s Reform UK arsenic a imaginable menace to his party’s electoral occurrence successful May 2025, but added that Green Party candidates person won victories successful “posh Tory areas”.

We person a batch of issues that are benignant of cross-party nowadays, you know, biology issues, for instance

Phil Broadhead, Conservative Councillors’ Association

He said: “We person a batch of issues that are benignant of cross-party nowadays, you know, biology issues, for instance. I cognize that determination are immoderate radical that are connected the benignant of other broadside of it.

“But I tin archer you, being retired determination successful communities, travelling astir the state arsenic we did for the wide election, this is simply a immense contented and really politically we’re talking a batch astir the threats, and who knows what the threats mightiness beryllium erstwhile they manifest themselves successful May, but of Reform etc.

“I’m much disquieted astir the Greens actually.

“In my campaigning astatine this election, I was going to places arsenic acold isolated arsenic Bristol and Bury St Edmunds wherever we person Greens moving the assembly now.

“And these are areas that – it’s not due to the fact that they’re… socialists, these are benignant of posh Tory areas but radical attraction astir these peculiarly biology extortion issues.

“So I deliberation we request to inhabit that abstraction and regain it.”

Mr Broadhead, who sits connected Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council successful Dorset, accused councils successful Bristol and Suffolk of having started “vanity projects oregon benignant of ideologically driven ventures”.

The authorization which Mr Broadhead led rolled retired electrical bin lorries, which helium said was an illustration of “doing things that are providing the services, doing it successful a Conservative way, redeeming wealth and making amended services astatine the aforesaid time”.

Essex County Council person Kevin Bentley said his enactment “lost tons of councillors due to the fact that of behaviour that was going connected successful Parliament” implicit caller years and added “that cannot hap again”.

Of his party’s enactment election, helium said: “Whoever the victor is, we each get down them. None of this 5 families and each that nonsense. I don’t wanna perceive it.

“All I privation to perceive astir is getting Conservatives into powerfulness astatine the municipality hall, region hall, Parliament oregon wherever we perchance can, truthful we each rally astir that caller person and nary backbiting, nary arguments.”