Barry Lewis: Understanding the verdict from Derbyshire

Barry Lewis is the former Leader of Derbyshire County Council.

The dust has now settled on what was, for many of us in local government, a bruising set of elections. Like so many Conservative councillors up and down the country, I lost my seat – squeezed out in a campaign where both the Greens and Reform UK targeted my division. I’m sanguine about that – it was a hard-fought contest, and while the result was disappointing, it was also instructive, and I look for the opportunities in the aftermath of that result.

Reform has disrupted the norms of politics, the public quietly played their cards close to their chests, and delivered a protest vote of epic proportions. Why? We messed up. For years we squandered the opportunities of government, and the legacy of that was handing a victory to Labour led by Keir Starmer, the worst government I’ve certainly ever lived through in my 54 years on this Earth. A litany of broken election promises that eroded trust in politicians and politics.

Whilst we were in government, we never expected perfection, nor did the public, but we were pretty shocking. We went through more Prime Ministers than some folks change their shirts, for starters. We did okay economically, and we had our shining moments here and there, but we pulled ourselves apart and undermined our own core tenets and values as a party by allowing them to be dismantled by what was to my mind an infiltration of Left-minded ‘Conservatives’. Our worst legacy was immigration, and no amount of slogan-making around “Stop the Boats” could get past the problem we failed to tackle.

Non-EU migration has exploded to nearly a million arrivals a year, adding immense pressure to public services. The NHS alone faces over £1 billion in extra costs annually from migrant demand – far exceeding what’s recovered through health surcharges. On top of this, asylum and small boat arrivals are now costing taxpayers £4.7 billion a year, with £3.1 billion spent just on hotel accommodation – £8 million every single day. Despite claims of economic benefit, the rapid, uncontrolled scale of immigration is now driving unsustainable costs in health, housing, and welfare, eroding public confidence and fuelling the rise of Reform, and that’s why Reform is surging. We never got a grip on it, and indeed it worsened under us. Under Labour, it will never get better. People sense the damage done, see it in our cities, and now our countryside, with unintegrated populations that are destabilising our communities and threatening our sense of British fairness, our values, and our society.

Politics is never personal, though. Voters were sending messages – complex ones – about the national picture, the cost of living, immigration, and the sense that promises have been made but not delivered. No councillor, no matter how dedicated or effective locally, was immune to that tide. And who can blame voters for their frustrations?

But amidst the losses, there is much to be proud of. Over eight years, our Conservative administration at Derbyshire County Council navigated shrinking budgets while protecting vital frontline services. All our libraries remained open. Our household waste recycling centres stayed operational. We delivered record pothole repairs, even if the underlying structural problems were often beyond our means to fully resolve. In short, we acted as responsible stewards of taxpayers’ money while serving communities to the best of our ability.

On the environment – a topic too often caricatured as the Left’s preserve – we led from the front. Our Million Trees initiative surged ahead of schedule. We created one of England’s leading Local Nature Recovery Strategies, spearheaded Biodiversity Net Gain projects, and established the Heartwood Community Forest. Our policies didn’t just pay lip service to climate aims; they offered real benefits to farmers, biodiversity, and local economies.

We also took bold action on energy, crafting a local strategy that balanced the urgent need for clean power with the protection of Derbyshire’s cherished landscapes. As Labour’s national energy policy – driven by Ed Miliband’s decarbonisation zealotry – threatens to scar rural areas with massive pylons and inappropriate solar schemes, we sought practical solutions that aligned growth with conservation.

Voters looked past those achievements and turned to Reform UK. Their rise was no flash in the pan. It was the result of years of unresolved concerns on immigration, border control, and the perception that traditional parties have ducked the hard choices. Reform offered simple answers to complex problems, and that simplicity resonated. Yet with power comes responsibility, and as Reform candidates now take office across councils, including here in Derbyshire, they will face the same harsh realities we did. Promises are easy; delivery is hard.

I also want to pay tribute to my successor as Conservative Group Leader at Derbyshire, Cllr Alex Dale. Alex’s leadership will be crucial as the Party rebuilds locally. He inherits not just the challenges of opposition but also the responsibility of showing voters that Conservatism remains the best vehicle for pragmatic solutions.

As we prepare for an eventual General Election, Conservatives must do two things. First, listen seriously to the voters who drifted to Reform and understand their anxieties – not dismiss them. Second, find solutions to the big problems and communicate them: we need proper legal solutions to border control, deportations of illegal arrivals, and removal of rights to benefits that make us appear to be a soft target. We need to be proud of our environmental achievements, committed to protecting the countryside and agriculture. We need to worry less about the one per cent differences we’ll make to global CO2 emissions and focus on the biodiversity net gain, which will likely sequester that difference anyway. Then we need to be focused relentlessly on growing our economy and finding those cost-of-living solutions that really matter to residents.

We have always stood for sound financial responsibility, community responsibility, and pragmatic progress. These principles remain a winning formula, provided we have the courage to articulate them clearly and execute them decisively.

Leading Derbyshire was the greatest privilege of my life. Now it’s time to help the next generation of Conservative leaders pick up the baton and reconnect with the voters we temporarily lost. Our voters didn’t leave us because they stopped believing in Conservative values – they left because they thought we did. It’s time to prove them wrong. The fightback starts now.