EDITOR'S VIEW: Reform's turquois tsunami has washed away Labour - so what now for South Tyneside?
The so-called turquois tsunami hit South Tyneside in the local elections to wipe out Labour and leave Reform UK on the crest of a wave. Here’s what the editor the Shields Gazette makes of it.
The people have spoken and they haven’t whispered their dissatisfaction with the status quo - they’ve pulled out a large turquoise megaphone and roared it.
The local elections saw a new dawn over the political landscape of South Tyneside, with a surge to the ballot box that reduced decades of Labour dominance to a single councillor.
Reform UK fought on a platform for change and secured a seismic result. The figures speak for themselves. The make-up of South Tyneside Council now stands at (rubs eyes) - 41 Reform UK councillors, 10 Green Party, two independents and a single Labour councillor.
So what can we expect from the fresh faced newcomers once they’ve located the toilets and coffee machines in the town hall?
Well, Reform UK’s leader Nigel Farage dropped into South Shields in the run up to the elections to tell us what he liked and what he didn’t.
My two takeaways from that fleeting visit were his approval of moving South Tyneside College into King Street - so we can rest assured that will still happen - and his determination to help businesses by scrapping parking charges. On that subject he was adamant.
Free parking across the town will bring in customers and revitalise the high street, he insisted. Farage badgered Reform UK candidates in South Shields saying: “For goodness sake get rid of parking charges and give this high street and others in this area half a chance.”
We are about to find out how soon the new Reform UK majority can give businesses that half a chance and deliver on its promises.
They will be given time to settle in and get their bearings. Even if they have planned ahead for their first few days in office, the change they’ve promised will not be overnight… and nor should we expect it to be.
Labour has been the dominant force since 1979, while Reform UK didn’t even exist until 2021.
They have come a long way in a short time and they have won the backing of voters to be the majority party in the town hall. Now they must earn the public’s trust.
The roar from the ballot box was unmistakable. What matters now is whether Reform UK can answer it with delivery rather than slogans - now that would be something to shout about.
On the write track...
It was good to meet up with my old pal and star playwright of these parts Ed Waugh for a bite to eat at The Customs House.
As usual, the man behind such stage hits as Dirty Dusting, Carrying David and, more recently, The Cramlington Train Wreckers, was full of good craic and as passionate about life in South Tyneside as ever.
Two cheese scones and a coffee later, Ed had filled me in on the local gossip, the political landscape and his hectic schedule in the arts. And all this while battling health problems that would floor the best of us.
Alas, my bid to persuade him to write a regular Gazette column on the machinations of Shields’ life was politely swerved, but I don’t give up that easily.
Something tells me that, much like Ed’s prodigious story output, this conversation isn’t over just yet.