I would like to thank everyone for the warm welcome I have received since being elected to East Sussex County Council. It is a privilege to introduce myself properly to residents. For those who don’t know me, I serve as a Reform UK County Councillor in the Hastings and Rye constituency, just next door.
People travel between our two areas for work, schooling, shopping and family ties, which means many of the concerns you raise are ones I have long been familiar with. I am grateful for the chance to represent you at county level and to work hard on your behalf.
A number of people have been in touch to ask about the recent announcement to push the Mayoral election into 2028. Frankly I am disgusted by this undemocratic action which I am sure you will agree is only occurring because the Labour government is afraid of losing most if not all the mayoral elections and I noted Mr Farage’s comments that he suspects they will conspire to have a voting system different to first past the post, in an attempt to keep other parties out.
At the time of writing, there isn’t a great deal of insights into what will happen with District Council Elections, but the plan has been for East Sussex County Council (ESCC) to grow to 100 Councillors from 50 at the next election due to the assumption that Borough Council’s will disappear and that ESCC will be a stopgap for local representation as we move to a unitary system. As you may know ESCC is controlled by the Conservative Party, with 23 Councillors. Given what they witnessed in Ashdown & Conquest Ward, as well as national polling it’s logical that like the Labour Party they will not be in a hurry to hold local elections. I hope I am proved wrong, and maybe 2028 becomes just too long a wait to justify for ESCC, but it’s certainly not in either Labour or Conservatives interest to hasten to elections.
I will of course update you as and when I learn more. However, my view is that it is undemocratic to deny people the opportunity of voting, particularly when its possible that we are no longer just looking at a 1 year delay, but possibly a 3 year delay for East Sussex County Council, a delay that could stretch the incumbent council from 2021 to 2028, as opposed to having had elections, as we should have, in 2025.
Interestingly, 2024 was the first time that most Counties had the opportunity to vote for Reform UK, but not in East Sussex of course. It would be wrong to extrapolate the by-election in Ashdown and Conquest in November 2025, but it is at least interesting to note that on the first occasion that people locally had the opportunity to vote Reform UK, they did so.
I think most people will agree that the political picture has changed greatly since the last County Council election in 2021, and while I try not to be cynical, I can’t help but consider that the Labour government is running scared of holding elections in counties they had hoped or even expected to win when coming to power, but now see polling that shows Reform UK likely to win.
Politics should be about representation and putting people first. Sadly, the old established parties seem to believe it’s not about listening to the public and changing their unwanted, unwarranted and unpopular policies. No rather than listen and learn to represent people they would rather frustrate the democratic process so as not to be accountable, at least not for several more years.
I wish I could say more as to the likely timetable for local elections, but the 2028 Mayoral election date came as a complete surprise to me – and from what I can tell the other Councillors and Officers at County Council too.
Reform UK has always believed that real progress begins close to home, where practical decisions can improve daily life and where residents can see clear results. I want to thank everyone who supported and encouraged me during the recent campaign. Your help made a genuine difference and I will work hard to justify the trust placed in me.
Together we can show that local commitment and fresh ideas can bring about meaningful change.
Councillor Aidan Fisher
December 2025
