Little local difficulties
Rotten Boroughs Election Special , Issue 1675

A new Lowe
A WAVE of support for Rupert Lowe's seaside-based Restore party means its Great Yarmouth First offshoot won all 10 seats it contested in the county and borough elections on 7 May.

Meanwhile, as Restore attracts those who believe Nigel Farage's Reform is too moderate, it's unsurprising that racists have flocked to the group. Restore supporters recently created a website to track the party's progress which includes a game where players shoot at boats crossing the Channel.

Of the top ten highest scores, three have set their username as… the N-word.

The only way is Essex
Among the 14 councils Reform won was the Essex manor of Clacton MP and party chief Nigel Farage. The party loosened the Tories' 25-year grip on the county council (Reform won 53 seats) and defeated Labour in the borough of Thurrock (Reform won 45 seats).

All eyes are on how Reform's rookies tackle Thurrock's £677m of debt, but at least they'll avoid having to handle the council's pisspoor in-house fraud fighters, the National Investigation Service. Government quango the Insolvency Service said it would take over operations a year ago, and 60 staff transferred this month – along with 130 outstanding investigations.

The unit started life as part of the Thurrock fraud department in 2017 but spent years cosplaying as an enforcement agency, winning a £38.5m government contract to probe Covid-related fraud.

The super-sloths – sorry, sleuths – secured just 14 convictions, and failed to sniff out the financial rot under their own noses when Thurrock invested hundreds of millions into solar energy bonds via companies linked to colourful businessman Liam Kavanagh. The scheme triggered Thurrock's financial collapse in 2022.

No massaging it…
Labour retained Barking and Dagenham, once a British National Party haven, although nine Reform candidates picked up seats.

However, east London voters rejected several Reform charmers, including Sunil Idiculla, who shared an image on social media of Enoch Powell with the words "When you speak the truth they brand you a racist", and Paul Hewson, who said Tommy Robinson and Powell aren't "far right", just "right".

Meanwhile Del Hunter, who described himself as an "original erotic massager" on a swingers' site, does not get to prove his, er, hands-on skills as a councillor.

Control issues
Quirky capers in Croydon after Keir Starmer's niece, Ellie Sandover, won a (safe) seat while the party haemorrhaged almost 1,500 councillors elsewhere.

Green candidate Mark Adderley got elected, despite being suspended pending an investigation into alleged antisemitism (he remained on the ballot as nominations had closed). Reform won its first seat in Croydon. And Tory mayoral contender Jason Perry scraped in with 1,100 more votes than Labour's contender, his second term gifting Croydon Conservatives another minority administration.

Perry's second tenure coincides with the end of Brick by Brick, the council-owned housebuilder that helped bankrupt Croydon (Eyes passim). The firm recently went into voluntary liquidation, leaving £68m of debt which will never be repaid to Croydon – which already has debts of £1.7bn. Onward!

Local turbulence
For more top stories on election results in Warwickshire, Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Wandsworth, Richmond, Sutton and Kingston-upon-Thames, see Rotten Boroughs Election Special in the magazine.