Reform wants to frame the local elections as a referendum on other parties, and is urging voters to reject the governing Labour nationally, and the Conservatives locally.
“They want a political party that … is not afraid to stand up for British values and for common sense,” Harris says. “Essex will speak loud and clear for the rest of the country that Reform is here.”
That message was echoed by Glen Smith, chair of Reform’s Witham branch, further north in Essex. “There’s no national leadership,” Smith says of Labour. “People are reaching the point where, actually, they just feel that they don’t know what to do.”
Reform backs “alarm clock Britain” who “want to take their kids on holiday and they want to have a good life,” he argues. “And they’re working, they’re pedaling as hard as you can to achieve that.”
Think before you vote
Reform’s opponents, however, say Farage is selling a myth. The Conservatives want to lean on what they see as a strong local record — but still fear the national picture will affect the results.
Shadow Housing Secretary James Cleverly, an MP since 2015 and a former Tory leadership hopeful, admits “there’s still some residual frustration from our time in government,” but says “it’s diminishing, and diminishing fairly quickly.”