Ex-Reform UK councillors create new group

Two Sheffield councillors who were formerly members of Reform UK have set up their own group on the city council.

Councillors Mick Lee and Robert Hanson both stood for Reform when they were voted onto Sheffield City Council on 7 May, but have since left the party.

Lee left Reform to become an independent councillor, while Hanson left saying he had not renewed his party membership.

They have now joined forces to set up the New Chartist Reform Group.

The name references the Chartists, a radical mass movement in the 19th Century that fought to get democratic reform and the vote for working-class people.

"The Chartist movement did a lot for the people of the time," said Lee.

"I wanted the name to be part of that."

Hanson added in the word Reform.

He said: "I do think Reform have some good ideas but I don't think they've got the people to implement those ideas. The local leadership lets them down."

Both councillors said they would fight for everyone in their local wards, regardless of their backgrounds and how they voted.

"We're not turning anyone away, we'll talk to anyone," said Lee.

He added: "Local politics is not about personalities, it's about putting the people of Sheffield first.

"We want to try and get things changed for the better for people of Sheffield. We want to promote disability issues with us both being disabled."

They have highlighted anti-social behaviour as a key issue to be tackled in order to make people feel safe and restore pride in local areas.

Hanson said: "It's the broken windows theory. If you put a car in an area which is all run down with broken windows, it will be broken into within an hour.

"If you clean the streets up, nobody touches the car because they believe the car's being watched.

"If we can deal with anti-social behaviour with a zero-tolerance approach and deal with the small stuff, it has a knock-on effect."

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