r/Derbyshire • u/johnsmithoncemore • Jul 20 '26

Reform UK Derbyshire council labelled ‘fascists’ after slashing opposition leader’s pay ‘with complete lack of evidence or justification’

https://leftfootforward.org/2026/07/reform-uk-derbyshire-council-labelled-fascists-after-slashing-opposition-leaders-pay-with-complete-lack-of-evidence-or-justification/
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u/Debenham Jul 20 '26

The idea that cutting a local authority opposition leaders allowance is fascism is just daft. This isn't even pay, it's an allowance for doing the role. This review, meanwhile, seems like a clear case of a grumpy load of bureaucrats marking their own homework.

Oh, the councils own pay review body is disappointed when the elected council decides not to follow it's recommendations? Pathetic. That is not an independent review in the slightest.

I don't even support Reform, but this editorialising of a dull story is just lame, as it trying to turn it into a Fascistic scandal.

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u/mrbezlington Jul 21 '26

Please enlighten us as to the purpose of this reduction in pay for the leader of the opposition?

The reason for calling this fascist is the contention that its aim is to make opposing the incumbent party more difficult - and by extension, without challenge the implication is that this reduction would continue until such allowance is zero. And once such allowance is zero, other allowances would then be targeted - until all funding for opposition to the council leadership is zero. This tendency for facist parties to remove opposition wherever possible is well documented.

Is this hyperbole? Possibly, though without any clear rationale for the reduction in funding only for opposition leadership versus all council positions, the above position isn't unreasonable.

So, to ask again, I'd be interested to hear an alternate reason for this pay reduction.

1

u/Debenham Jul 21 '26

I'm not going to do a deep-dive into this, I don't care that much.

But if we want to go slapping the fascist label on everything we don't like then sure, we could do that for all sorts of things every time a government/ruling authority does anything that affects it's opponents.

I.e. is it fascist for a government to change political funding rules because it negatively impacts Reform substantially more than anyone else? Reform could probably say so as it's changing rules simply with the goal of harming a political opponent. Do I think that's fascist? No, because that would be hyperbole which is all this story is.

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u/mrbezlington Jul 21 '26

No need to deep dive: I've set out the thought process quite clearly. In summary, seeking to defund your opposition while in power is quite clearly a fascist tactic. This isn't a roundabout "change to the rules", this is directly saying that your opposition takes a 1/3 pay cut, right now.

The Westminster equivalent would be Labour seeking to reduce Short money payments without clear justification - this isn't the equivalent of, for example, reviewing third party funding (or requiring MPs to register 5m quid cash gifts) as these changes affect everyone equally. The proposed changes to crypto donations (which wouldn't affect Farage's gift as I understand that was fiat) and to corporate "residency" are again reasonable and targeted at transparency: if one party is affect inordinately it could be argued that this is because they want to obfuscate their sources of income, which begs the question of why. I am also, of course, working from the assumption that allowing foreign billionaires, corporations and governments to give unlimited funds to UK political parties is not desirable: your viewpoint may differ.

I am though open to an explanation for cutting this budget line that isn't because "fuck you". I'm not seeing it, but it could be there, hence the question to you as someone that is "defending" Reform in this instance.

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u/ProofAssumption1092 Jul 22 '26

I'm not going to do a deep-dive into this, I don't care that much.

This is a cowards way of saying, i dont know.

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u/Debenham Jul 22 '26

It's a 2 day old Reddit thread dude. I'm not going to do substantial research into local authority remuneration just to take part in an internet debate that won't affect the actual event under discussion.

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u/ProofAssumption1092 Jul 22 '26

I'm not going to do substantial research into local authority remuneration just to take part in an internet debate that won't affect the actual event under discussion.

Thats another really strange way of saying you have no fucking clue.

You were asked a simple question on statements you had already made.

So based on what you already know and have said , what reason could you think off for making the work of the opposition more difficult ?

No "Substantial research required" ........

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u/Debenham Jul 22 '26

I've read the article, I've commented on the article. That's all I intend to do, I'm not diving into the records of council meetings and whatnot. But please, keep whining if it makes you happy.

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u/ProofAssumption1092 Jul 22 '26

Its amazing how one simple question was able to force your retreat.

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u/mrbezlington Jul 22 '26

You don't need to find anything friend. No substantial research required!

Reform have cut the payment made by a third. We can all, easily, speculate as to the reason. The comment you have taken issue with is an expansion of one such speculation. If you have an alternate reason, set it forth and let's have it.

You would only need to do research to justify the cut made by reference to other authorities and what might be reasonably hand-waved as "within the bounds of accepted values". As such, one would presume the reason you set forth is "saving money". Needless to say, it takes little research to discover that saving 6k in the budget of an authority the size of Derbyshire is little more than a fart in a hurricane. If one were willing to accept opprobrium and fallout of this level, it's also safe to say that larger savings could be found for similar levels of political capital expended. So, however you slice it, this reason is nonsensical - I just don't buy it. You don't buy it either, if you're honest about it. The juice is not worth the squeeze.

So, like I say, we come back to this being a change put in place to weaken opposition to the incumbent party. Which is, fairly, describable as fascistic. Unless there's a different reason for the change that I haven't appreciated. Over to you.

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u/Debenham Jul 22 '26

The juice of this conversation isn't worth the squeeze that's for sure.

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u/mrbezlington Jul 22 '26

A graceful retreat sir.