TAMESIDE Council’s leader admits “some people are very cross” with Ashton-under-Lyne MP Angela Rayner after she stepped down as Deputy Prime Minister.
But Cllr Eleanor Wills has taken aim at the area’s potential Reform UK election candidates for ‘talking about boats.’
Senior Labour Party figure Ms Rayner also resigned as Housing Secretary after it emerged she had failed to pay enough tax on her £800,000 flat in Hove, East Sussex.
She said she took “full responsibility for this error”, adding: “It was never my intention to do anything other than pay the right amount.”
Ms Rayner’s successor, with Lucy Powell and Bridget Phillipson in the running, will be announced on Saturday, October 25.
Some figures in the group would have her back, some even as leader ahead of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
But the woman in charge of the local party has told of the reaction.
Cllr Wills said: “There are mixed views about it, but she has offered her apologies.”
A popular sentiment among people in Tameside is voting for Reform UK at the forthcoming local elections.
Headed by Nigel Farage, the group is expected to field candidates in almost every ward as it looks to add to its one councillor, Longdendale’s Allan Hopwood.
Cllr Wills admits Labour of ‘feeling the pressure’ as May 2026 approaches
But she cited those who say they will be a candidate focusing on an issue that seemingly has little impact on Tameside – small boats.
She also urged voters to be, ‘mindful of what any change might represent.’
Cllr Wills added: “At some of our community sessions, there are people that have expressed their affiliation with Reform UK and a desire to stand in local elections.
“When asked about local issues, they’ve talked about boats.”
Reform UK says the councils it controlled are ‘fixing decades of Tory and Labour mismanagement – unearthing hundreds of millions in savings in just a few months and filling tens of thousands of potholes.’
The party’s statement continued: “In Derbyshire alone, our administration has already slashed the pothole backlog from 26,000 to 3,000, with highways claims down 72 per cent year-on-year.”
One area Tameside Council’s inadequacy cannot be argued is in its children’s services department.
It remains in special measures after an Ofsted report in February 2024 identified serious failures which left vulnerable children in the borough either being harmed or put at risk of harm.
Criticisms also included an over-reliance on agency staff and too many vulnerable children experiencing a change in social worker.
Government-appointed commissioner, Andy Couldrick, was appointed and in June, he blasted ‘a year lost’ to improve, saying: “The legacy of poor leadership at every level, front-line and strategic, and the profound weaknesses in the council’s support services and the work of multiagency partners across the system, means that a year has, in effect, been lost without any significant improvement taking place.”
But Cllr Wills told BBC Radio Manchester: “There are absolutely things in place now to ensure that children and families are having a positive experience in Tameside.”