Reform UK will target success in local elections in Sheffield in May
Mitchell Wild would like to see Reform in Manor(Image: Andrew Dowdeswell / YorkshireLive)
A suburb in Sheffield that is set to be targeted by Reform UK in the upcoming local elections in May has broadly spoken positively about the party’s plans.
The Manor Castle ward in Sheffield, which covers the Manor Park, Manor Top and Park Hill areas of the city, is a key battleground for Reform UK, ex-campaigners for the party told YorkshireLive.
As Sheffield did not have any local elections last year when Reform won control of councils up and down the country, the city has not seen the party sweep Labour and others aside in the same way just yet. It has just one Reform councillor, John Booker, who won the Stocksbridge and Upper Don by-election last year.
But in May, expect to see substantially more royal blue at Sheffield City Council. So, with Manor Castle one of the key battlegrounds in the upcoming local elections, we wanted to find out what people thought about that.
Mitchell Wild, 26, has lived in the Manor area for “most of his life”. He says he would welcome Reform. “It needs to be done, to be fair. It’s about time,” he tells YorkshireLive. “Look at Tommy Robinson, nobody used to vote for him but now there’s more and more people getting behind him and right-wing ideas.
“Keir Starmer isn’t doing anything. He’s going against what we want. That’s why everybody is voting Reform.”
He is far from the only one who supports the party. Edward Wild, who has Manor Park Fisheries since 1994 and has lived in the area for 45 years, also said Reform having greater influence would “be better”. He said: “I think it would be better. Something has got to be different, hasn’t it?
“I would welcome them. Last time we went to vote, there wasn’t a Reform candidate for us, so I’d welcome them in May. They cannot be the worst.”
However, not everyone in Manor was so enthusiastic about the looming Reform takeover. One woman said she doesn’t really get involved in politics. Another man who recently moved to the area said he does not know much about it, but would be hesitant to see Reform in the area.
Ahmed, a 21-year-old shop worker at Halal supermarket Infinito on City Road at Manor Top, said he would not be surprised if Reform does very well in the area, but admitted he would never support them.
“We saw a march here about a month ago,” he says. “I am not very surprised, given the composition of the area. We are from Firth Park but run a business here. Where we live is much more diverse. A halal butcher and supermarket is not usually something that’s in this area, so people are not very used to it.”
He adds: “I absolutely don’t support Reform, but if I was allowed to put money on it, I would put money it.”
While Ahmed admits the area has a greater white working-class population, he says his shop has never suffered from any problems, even if he is used to a more diverse part of the city.
“For the most part, people have been quite decent. We’ve not had much abuse,” he says. “The area has been completely fine. No one has given us much trouble or abuse, you just don’t see those kinds of marches in my area.”
Reform will certainly expect to do well at the upcoming local elections in Sheffield. Nigel Farage’s party has swept up in many areas across the country, particularly in left-behind working-class areas where people feel overlooked and forgotten. Sheffield has many areas like those, and Reform will target success there come May.
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