REFORM’S alleged ‘reluctance’ to outline its policies having taken over Barnsley Council following a resounding election win have been raised as a concern by a councillor.

Coun James Higginbottom, who now heads up the town’s Labour contingent, spoke out following Reform councillors’ first appearance at Barnsley Town Hall last month.

‘Inexperience’ was raised by the Wombwell ward representative after council leaders opted against speaking out against criticism they had faced in the run-up and in the meeting.

Coun Andy Arnold’s alleged swastika tattoo was heavily condemned although Reform opted to stay tight-lipped on the matter in the town hall as was the decision to ‘go against history’ and reject Coun Jo Newing’s progression from deputy mayor to mayor.

“As the official opposition, our job is to be the voice of scrutiny,” Coun Higginbottom said.

“When we see things going well, we will always be a strong champion for that because fundamentally we want to see Barnsley go in the right direction.

“Stuff like the town centre regeneration and that investment across the borough, we want to see what the next phase looks like.

“I want to know what Reform’s policies are if I’m brutally honest.

“We’ve not had the details of that.

“They ran on a manifesto that they were going to drop council tax but that got mysteriously dropped as we got nearer to the election.

“What they ran on was pretty thin in detail.

“I can understand this will be daunting for them public service and life comes at you very fast and this isn’t the time to learn on the job as it were.

“They need to be in a position to hit the ground running with that.

“If you’ve been elected on a big promise that everything’s going to be a radical change, and you’re going to do things differently and better, let’s have a look at what that budget looks like.”

Despite the catastrophic seat losses that Labour suffered in Barnsley, the leader remains hopeful that the party can come back and lead the council after the next local election.

Reform is the second party to lead Barnsley Council, after Labour led for over 50 years.

“Door after door, the people we were speaking to were saying ‘I like what you are doing as a council, but we can’t vote for you this time’,” Coun Higginbottom added.

“It was about national issues, such as the Prime Minister.

“They said ‘we’re not voting for you because of Keir Starmer’ and ‘we’re not voting for you because we don’t feel that the government has done what it set out to do, or quick enough’.

“It’s where we go from here, we’ve got to rebuild that.

“Then we need to have a serious look at how we, in four years’ time, be in a position where we are putting forward a really bold prospectus for why Barnsley Labour can run this town again.

“I have a good team of colleagues behind me in the Labour group and the support of a wider network right across the party and movement in Barnsley.”