‘LEADING the way’.

That’s how the Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, summed up Barnsley Council’s MiCard initiative when she visited our town last week.

MiCards let under-18s travel free across South Yorkshire if their journey starts or ends in our borough. The scheme has delivered around a million journeys, helping kids to get to school, keeping bus services running, and easing congestion.

It’s no wonder the Transport Secretary has taken inspiration from Barnsley and she’s not the only one.

After all, this wasn’t the first time this year a member of the government has come to Barnsley to see how things get done. It wasn’t the second either. Or even the third.

It was the fourth.

Back in January, the Health Secretary came to see the council’s Health on the High Street programme at the Alhambra and the Community Diagnostic Centre at the Glass Works.

It’s fair to say he was impressed he called Barnsley ‘the future of the NHS’ and will be rolling out similar programmes nationally.

Then came February, with two ministerial visits in quick succession.

First, the Technology Secretary arrived to name Barnsley the UK’s first Tech Town. Thanks to the long-term vision of our Labour council, Barnsley’s tech foundations were already strong.

That’s why the Labour government has recognised us as the first Tech Town, and that’s why tech companies like Microsoft and Adobe are backing Barnsley.

Weeks later, the Energy Secretary visited Barnsley College’s clean energy jobs fair, speaking to young people about their futures in South Yorkshire’s booming clean energy sector.

His message echoed what we’ve heard from every minister who’s visited: Barnsley isn’t following the agenda, it’s setting it.

Four ministerial visits in three months. Four areas where Barnsley Council is shaping national policy.

These achievements didn’t appear by chance.

They came from a Council choosing long-term investment over short-term headlines.

What do I mean by short-term headlines? Well, a good example would be ‘we will cut council tax’. That’s what Nigel Farage and Reform candidates promised in last year’s local elections. It sounded good, didn’t it?

But it was utter drivel. This year, most Reform-run councils are increasing council tax by an average of around 4.9 per cent and as high as 8.9 per cent in some places.

Those figures are much higher than Barnsley’s Labour council, who didn’t make a false promise to cut it.

Not that they’d make a dent in the wallet of Reform’s top table. Nigel Farage has earned well over £1m from working at least 12 yes, 12 extra jobs on the side of being an MP, all while supposedly representing his constituents.

He still hasn’t explained who paid for his Clacton house either. First he said it was him, then he said it wasn’t.

Most people tend to remember if they bought a second house especially if there are tax implications.

Speaking of tax, did you clock that Reform’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, comfortably avoided paying nearly £600,000 in corporation tax? If this had been a Labour politician, I know there’d have been much more noise from certain sections of the media.

This May, you’ll have an important choice on who runs our council.

Labour, a party who have run our council successfully for years, twice winning national Council of the Year awards, a party who has helped to ensure that Barnsley folk have the fastest-growing disposable income in the north of England, and who are setting the national agenda.

Or Reform, a party who promise to cut council tax, increase it, and avoid paying tax themselves.

It’s a choice between those who are proving they can deliver real results, and those who are just delivering empty promises. Please choose wisely.