Can the Greens and Reform win big in London? podcast
5/4/202634 min
This week Politics Weekly is on the road with the Greens in Hackney and Reform UK in Bromley ahead of the local elections to see why people are turning their backs on the traditional parties in London. This episode was recorded on Monday 26th and Tuesday 27th April.. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/politicspod
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
This is The Guardian.
Speaker 1· Host0:01
[pensive music] Hello. As we gear up for the local elections in England and devolved elections in Wales and Scotland this week, Politics Weekly's been on the road. It looks like London could see the greens of Reform sweeping across councils in the capital as people switch away from Labour and the Conservatives. In the first half of this episode, our producer, Frankie, is in Bromley, where in 2022, the Conservatives retained control of the borough but lost 14 seats. Since the election, two councilors have defected from the Tories to Reform UK. She spent the day with Councilor Alan Cook, Reform's first ever directly elected London councilor. And see if you can guess the name of the Reform supporter's son who's in the shadow cabinet. [traffic whooshing] [horn honking] What does this sign say?
Speaker 21:06
Uh, treat us or vote Reform.
Speaker 1· Host1:08
[horn honking] There you go.
Speaker 21:10
On cue.
Alan Cook· Guest1:11
Well, Reform UK is known for being a little bit different, and we do want to be different, so this is, uh, one of the ways where we are different in, uh, campaigning. We're out here on the side of the road on the 821, which is the, the most... The busiest road, uh, in, in Bromley pretty much. We have