As Reform UK turns Nottinghamshire turquoise, its approach to governance, spending, and media control raises deeper questions about the future of British democracy.
Reform UK redraws the local political landscape.
In May 2025, local elections were held across 23 English councils, including Nottinghamshire County Council, the upper-tier authority covering the non-unitary parts of the county. The City of Nottingham, administered separately as a unitary authority, was not among those voting.
Reform UK, the far-right party previously known as the Brexit Party, emerged as the largest force, securing an astonishing 41% of all contested seats. These gains – described by Nigel Farage himself as “unprecedented” – allowed the party to hold outright control of ten British local authorities, including Nottinghamshire.
Reform’s sweeping victories came largely at the expense of the traditional parties of the British political landscape – the Conservatives and Labour – who lost 319 and 98 councillors respectively. Yet, Reform was not the only beneficiary of the two main parties’ unpopularity, since the Liberal Democrats also capitalised on voter disillusionment, gaining 163 more councillors and finishing second overall behind Reform.
A Turquoise Wave in Nottinghamshire.
On 2 May, a turquoise wave – the colour of Nigel Farage’s party – swept across the East Midlands, taking control of Nottinghamshire County Council. Previously held by the Conservatives since 2021, the County Council could not withstand the twin forces of Reform’s spectacular rise and the fragmentation of the British political landscape – a shift described by Nigel Farage himself as “the end of two-party politics”.
Populist, anti-immigration, in favour of cutting corporation tax, and an ardent defender of British identity, Reform UK is capitalising on the British people’s anger and weariness to emerge as the leading figure in the British political landscape.
The far-right party scored one of its clearest victories, winning 40 of the 66 seats of the Nottinghamshire County Council, hence securing an overall majority. The new administration is led by Mick Barton, now heading the council as Reform’s leader.
The Conservatives endured a significant loss, shedding half of their seats, while the Labour Party was cut by ten councillors. Three smaller groups – the Ashfield Independents, the Broxtowe Alliance, and the Broxtowe Independent Group – each hold a single seat, rounding out the new council composition.
But what does this mean for local governance?
“Cutting waste”- or not quite?
Reform’s Nottinghamshire manifesto promised to “cut the waste”. The stated promise? To make savings and cut waste. To support that, barely a month after taking control of Nottinghamshire County Council, the party launched an “efficiency review” to identify unnecessary spending. Described by Mick Barton as a full financial review to assess council finances, the audit is led by councillors and officers. It also benefits from input from Reform’s national Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). In practice, progress has been sluggish.
DOGE, critics note, has managed to visit only three Reform-run councils. Meanwhile, Nottinghamshire’s own “waste-cutting” drive has come under fire after the council decided to maintain two headquarters – County Hall in West Bridgford and Oak House in Hucknall – for £500,000. The previous Conservative administration had planned to consolidate offices to save money.
£75k spent on British flags
Then came the flags. Adding to the controversy, in October 2025, the council leader, Mick Barton, announced the installation of 164 new flag installations across 82 locations – including pubs, hospitals, and even a McDonald’s restaurant- in Rushcliffe, Broxtowe, Mansfield, and Ashfield.
The total cost of this initiative? A staggering £75,000. Defended by the party and the Council leader Mick Barton as an effort to “strengthen community spirit”, the project has been severely criticised by some Labour councillors who brought the light on the disconnection between the party’s pledges to cut “wasteful spending” and the expenditure on flags.
This decision is provoking even more reactions, given the current “flag movement” taking place in the UK, in which the flag is more used as a tool to divide rather than to unite.
Indeed, this summer has seen an increase in the number of flags displayed and waved in public spaces in the UK. The Cross of Saint George, emblem of England, and the Union Jack have been seen everywhere. On lampposts, highway bridges, mailboxes, and even crosswalks repainted in the national colours. The phenomenon reached its peak on September 13, when around 110,000 people gathered in London for the “Unite the Kingdom” march, organised by Tommy Robinson, a controversial British far-right figure.
Farage has been careful to keep his distance from Robinson, yet his party has clearly benefited from the same nationalist energy channelling voters’ frustrations into ballot-box populism rather than street protest.
From Flags to Headlines: A Clash with the Local Press.
If Reform’s spending choices have raised eyebrows, its relationship with the media has been even more divisive. Tensions surfaced after Nottinghamshire Live, the online arm of the Nottingham Post, reported internal disagreements among Reform councillors over proposed boundary changes in Gedling and Rushcliffe.
Furious at what he called “biased and inflammatory coverage,” Barton responded by banning all Reform councillors from speaking to Nottinghamshire Live, cutting off press releases and invitations to council events. Requests for interviews are rejected, though journalists may still attend public meetings.
This move has been widely condemned by the entire political sphere, with Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative Party leader, expressing her concern about this decision. The dangerous nature of this ban (now lifted) has also been highlighted by media landscape professionals such as the News Media Association (NMA) or Reporters Without Borders, emphasising the crucial impact journalism has on society. They expressed their deep concern over what is a serious restriction of media access to local political processes, urging the Nottinghamshire City Council to lift this ban and calling all British parties to respect media freedom.
This situation is the epitome of the Reform Party’s relationship with the press. Seemingly inspired by the Trumpian model of press censorship, the Reform Party has taken similar decisions in Wales and Kent Council, when at the national level, Reform UK recently barred a journalist from climate-focused outlet DeSmog from attending its conference. RSF has repeatedly warned that such practices are threatening journalistic freedom and, therefore, democracy, the media often being depicted as the “fifth power” in democratic regimes.
A glimpse into the future
While Reform is credited with 30% of voting intentions for the next General Elections (which must be called by August 2029), its first six months in Nottinghamshire can give us an overview of how the party might govern nationally. Promises to cut waste and streamline spending have collided with the realities of stretched budgets and statutory obligations. The DOGE unit has so far visited only a handful of councils, and many of the “savings” it highlights are tiny compared with rising costs in adult social care and children’s services.
Meanwhile, high-profile spending decisions – from £500,000 to maintain two council headquarters to £75,000 on new flag installations – have drawn criticism and exposed tensions between rhetoric and reality. Similar struggles are playing out in Kent, where internal disputes and public rows reveal the challenges of turning populist promises into practical governance.
Nottinghamshire offers a cautionary glimpse: bold populism meets hard reality, and how voters judge that balance could shape Britain’s post-turquoise future.
