🚨Deadlock on the Council Continues🚨

JimmyD — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 06:22:58 GMT

Reform UK Group Leader on Oldham Council Lewis Quigg said:

I have remained largely silent on the political manoeuvring taking place at Oldham Council in an effort to explore every possible avenue towards forming a minority Reform UK administration.

We engaged in discussions with all political groups and spoke with a number of individual councillors. Our position throughout was clear: no coalitions and no secret agreements.

What became apparent after only a few meetings was that, despite public statements suggesting otherwise, Labour had no intention of allowing Reform UK the opportunity to lead the Council.

Labour have abandoned Oldham. They want Oldham to rot - and maybe their Leader is more interested in the rumoured seat in the Lords. Their legacy will be a council mired in scandal, teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.

When Reform UK was the only administration proposal on the table, it was rejected by all of them.

Our offer was straightforward: to make the Council more efficient, more accountable, more transparent and more financially responsible on behalf of the people of Oldham. That offer was rejected.

We proposed giving opposition parties all committee chairmanships, ensuring full oversight, effective scrutiny and genuine accountability. That too was rejected.

We put forward an administration focused on Reform UK's core objective of fixing the basics and delivering better services for residents. Again, it was rejected.

There were certainly many positive conversations along the way, and we attended every meeting in good faith. However, our position remained the clearest and most consistent. We put our plans before the electorate, secured a mandate from voters and sought to honour that mandate.

It is only right to acknowledge that several Independent and Conservative councillors voted with us and asked for nothing in return. They did so because they wanted an alternative to Labour administration in Oldham.

Let us also be clear: Reform UK would never enter into an arrangement with Labour, and Labour made it equally clear they would never work with us. We represent fundamentally different values, priorities and visions for the borough.

The Oldham Group, meanwhile, would not work with Reform UK but expected Reform UK to work with them. It was a one-way street that we were never prepared to entertain. With positions and promises seemingly changing from meeting to meeting, it became increasingly difficult to see how any lasting arrangement could be reached.

Ultimately, much rested on the so-called Alliance — a grouping that no one voted for and few residents have ever heard of, consisting of the Oldham Group, Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and Royton Independents.

Credit where it is due: they talked a very good game. However, when their proposals were subjected to the realities of council finances, the plans quickly unravelled. Basic checks with council finance officers and senior officers appear not to have been carried out, and it soon became clear that many of the figures and proposals simply did not stack up. The "Wizard of Oz" effect was real, and the curtain soon fell.

More concerning was the proposal for a Muslim-only cemetery. This was a clear red line for Reform UK. Attempts to advance the proposal through alternative means demonstrated that there was simply no way to bridge such a significant policy divide, especially given that it formed part of a key Oldham Group manifesto commitment.

It is also extraordinary that a group with just six Liberal Democrat councillors should effectively determine who becomes Council Leader and who sits in Cabinet.

The final nail in the coffin came when the Liberal Democrats, Oldham Group and others attempted to create an artificial grand coalition that would ultimately have seen Labour and Arooj Shah returned to power through a rotating leadership arrangement.

Reform UK rejected this outright. We made a clear pledge to voters that we would not enter into coalitions, and we intend to keep that promise.

Speaking personally, I would never serve as a deputy to Labour or to Arooj Shah.

Even more remarkably, there appeared to be an expectation that Reform UK should either support such an arrangement or abandon the promises we made to voters, simply so others could maintain control of what they describe as a "progressive" administration.

The answer was, and remains, no.

The electorate voted for change — not more of the same with a different face attached to it.

As things stand, we are now facing the prospect of commissioners being appointed, with civil servants taking responsibility for the day-to-day running of the Council.

Perhaps one of their first tasks should be to investigate how Oldham's finances reached this position and why so many projects over the years were launched, failed, stalled or never materialised at all.

Reform UK made a promise to the people of Oldham, and we intend to keep it. You voted for Reform UK values, Reform UK policies and Reform UK principles. We will not abandon them for political convenience.

Next May, we will once again ask for your support. We are halfway there, but we need one final push to secure a majority and deliver the change that so many residents voted for.

The job is not yet finished — but together, we can finish it.