Letter: We Need a Clear Alternative to Current Government Policy

Published on: 2 Sep, 2025
Updated on: 2 Sep, 2025

By Graham Drage

chair of Reform UK, Guildford

In response to: Sudden Resignation of Guildford County Councillor

Reform UK Guildford wishes to acknowledge the service of Fiona Davidson, who yesterday (September 1) stepped down as Surrey County Councillor for Guildford South East.

Fiona is a warm, engaging and dedicated individual who has given generously of her time and energy. Her commitment to residents, from supporting families and community groups to chairing SCC’s Children and Families Select Committee, deserves genuine recognition.

Speaking personally, before becoming chair of Reform Guildford, I was an active supporter of Residents for Guildford & Villages (R4GV) and even canvassed on Fiona’s behalf. At that time, it was still possible to believe that “local politics should not be political”.

Sadly, that is no longer the case. Increasingly, national policy agendas are being pushed down into local government, leaving councillors and residents alike with little choice but to live with the consequences.

Net Zero is the most striking example. Surrey County Council has signed up to binding commitments that translate into local anti-car schemes, so-called “greenways,” inflated parking charges and restrictions on drivers.

The new unitary authorities will only deepen this reality. Their delegated powers will cover:

Transport and infrastructure
Housing and strategic planning
Economic development and regeneration
Environment and climate change, including green energy roll-out
Health, wellbeing and public service reform
Public safety (police and fire)

These are not abstract policy areas. They affect how we travel to work, where homes are built, how local businesses operate, and how public services are delivered. They are, quite clearly, national policies being imposed locally.

It is for precisely this reason that Reform UK must now provide a clear alternative. We are uniquely placed to challenge Net Zero, anti-car policies, and wasteful spending both at the local level, where they are felt most sharply, and nationally, where they are devised.

That is why Reform UK Guildford will be standing an exceptional candidate in Dale Layman in the forthcoming by-election. Dale has lived in Guildford for over 30 years and built a long and successful career in pharmaceutical sales management. He brings both professional competence and deep local roots, and we are confident he will be a strong voice for the people of Guildford South East.

Fiona has always been a dedicated representative for her community, and we wish her well. But the future direction for Guildford requires a new voice: one that stands up for residents against top-down impositions, restores transparency and insists that local government is once again accountable to the people it serves.

Responses to Letter: We Need a Clear Alternative to Current Government Policy

George Potter Reply

September 2, 2025 at 11:26 am

Speaking personally, whilst I would never in my life consider voting for a quasi-fascist organisation like Reform, whose ethos is built on a pathological hatred for everything and every value that makes England the wonderful country it is, the one thing I am prepared to give them credit for is that at least they are honest about their extreme, anti-science, anti-human views.

For years we’ve had to deal with Conservative and “independent” politicians who mouth support for the environment and for climate action whilst quietly opposing any and every meaningful measure to do anything about it, because their real views are the complete opposite of what they professed when seeking election.

Anyone who votes for Reform will be under no illusion that they are voting for a party opposed to action on climate change and that does not believe that is is real or man-made. Anyone who votes for a party actually opposing them (like the Liberal Democrats) will know that they are voting for the exact opposite.

At least, in that, there will now be some clarity. A change from the old lie that it is possible to be “apolitical” about decisions which determine how many people are killed on the roads, the quality of the air they breathe, and the rate at which our natural world disintegrates around us.

George Potter is a Lib Dem borough and county councillor.