Coventry Reform UK candidate disputes claims of 'unrealistic promises'

Reform candidate Jackie Gardiner believes the party will take control of Coventry City Council this year and says its spending plans have been supported by residents



A Coventry member of Reform UK has disputed claims that the party has increased its power base on '"unrealistic promises."

The local Green Party says Reform-run councils such as Warwickshire "haven't exactly done brilliantly" and there are concerns over unachievable pledges and infighting.

Esther Reeves, a Green Party councillor and a candidate in the upcoming elections, said : "They haven't done what they said they were going to do, like cut council tax, because that wasn't realistic in the first place. They came in on unrealistic promises."

Reform has two councillors, Jackie Gardiner in Sherbourne ward and Marcus Lapsa in Westwood (now renamed Tile Hill & Canley ), both of whom defected from the Conservatives in June 2025. Both are standing as candidates in those wards on May 7.

Cllr Gardiner rejected claims from the Greens that Reform UK has made unrealistic promises where it has gained a foothold elsewhere, including Warwickshire County Council.

Cllr Gardiner, who represents the Sherbourne ward and is one of the three candidates standing for that ward in the May 7 local election, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "That's the Greens' first mistake: we are Coventry, we are not Warwickshire. Secondly, Warwickshire never promised to cut council tax. So that's another fundamental problem with that argument."

Reform-led Warwickshire proposed keeping the 2026/2027 council tax rise down to 3.89 per cent. That wasn't backed by other parties and a 4.4 per cent increase was approved.

Cllr Gardiner added: "In terms of being unrealistic, the local Greens in Coventry thought it would be unrealistic for a two-member party to produce an alternative budget, yet that's exactly what we (Reform) did and it was signed off by the Section 151 officer as a proper budget."

She added that the Greens, also a two-member group, had not produced any alternative budget of their own.

Cllr Gardiner said Reform's fiscal plan, put forward at the full meeting of Coventry City Council this February as the authority decided on its spending priorities for the 2026/2027 year, had reapportioned the council's £9.5m settlement from central Government by making "different, less wasteful decisions of how to spend that money."

Reform had further identified an additional £1m of savings, she said. This included £350,000 that could be saved by a combination of sharing services with other authorities and outsourcing.

Overall, this would have meant the council had an extra £10.5 million in spending power, Cllr Gardiner argued. This could be used for cleaning up the city, repairs and maintenance, investing in young people and the community, keeping down bills and improving the city centre.