We’re going to lose control of Hartlepool Borough Council if this keeps up...

Labour Member issues punishing message to the Labour Party, "You're going to lose control of Hartlepool Borough Council, if Reform UK's political tidal wave continues", threatening to hand back their membership....

2nd May 2025

Labour Party members in Hartlepool are said to be sounding the alarm after Reform UK made serious electoral inroads, snatching not only a key council seat in Hartlepool but also siezing control of Durham County Council — a Labour stronghold that ws held for over a century.

Reform UK may have only wont one council seat in Hartlepool (The only seat up for election), but they took DCC to becoem the largest party in the council chamber...

The upset is said to have rattled Labour Party members across the region, where in Hartlepool, Reform UK's candidate Amanda Napper clinched the Throston ward seat in a decisive victory, overturning what was once considered a 'safe' Labour Council Seat. Her win comes just a year after she narrowly lost the parliamentary contest to Labour’s Jonathan Brash, signaling that Reform's momentum in Hartlepool is no flash in the pan.

“It's is a wake-up call, and not just a small one,” said one Labour member, who spoke to Durham & Teesside Today on the condition of anonymity. “This feels like 2019 all over again.”

Many within the Labour party are said to be pointing towards national issues as the source of locals seeminly punishing Labour at the ballot box, with some members believing that Keir Starmer’s leadership and his broader party strategy is alienating voters in the very communities that helped bring Labour back from the brink to put Keir Starmer into No.10— particularly in former red wall Constituensies like Hartlepool.

National Policies apear to be having a major impact in the local elections....

Even Labour Members claim Hartlepool MP Jonathan Brash may only see just one elected term before he loses the Hartlepool Seat once more to Reform UK in the next general election...

“Our national policies are damaging us locally,” the member continued. “Starmer’s let us win back places like Hartlepool, only to turn his back on the very voters who got us here. It feels like a major betrayal. If there's no leadership challenge after this id be surpsired.”

The broader picture only adds to the concern, where earlier this afternoon it was announced that Reform UK has picked up enough seats on nearby Durham County Council to take full control of the local council that had sat as a Labour Stronghold for over 100 years — with wins nationally including several mayoral contests — in what some are calling a “Reform tidal wave” of discontent.

Labours been shown to be vulnerable in Hartlepool once more ...

The knifes are likle to be out for Labours Leader Keir Starmer after a bruising election defeat across the country to Reform UK

The current political composition of Hartlepool Borough Council underscores Labour’s vulnerability. Labour now holds 23 council seats, down from 24. The Conservatives and Independents each hold 6, and Reform UK has officially entered the council chamber with 1. It may seem like a very small shift — but sources claim it's now the beginning of a much larger unraveling for Labour....

With the next local elections in Hartlepool not due until 2026, some of Labour's members claim there's still has time to repair the damage caused by Reform's political tidal wave— but not much, as it seems immigration, a lack of access to social housing, the cost of living crisis & continued frustration at a system that promotes two tier justice & policing has led to voters making their voices heard loud & clear, where it seems without decisive action, Reform UK could be knocking down the door of another red wall institution in the not too distant future...