Paul G Webster on UK politics and policy https://pgw.report/ 2026-05-12T13:48:14Z Paul G Webster paul@pgw.report https://pgw.report/about/ Copyright 2026 Paul G Webster. Hand-written; no analytics, no trackers, minimal JavaScript. hand-written https://pgw.report/council-changes-2026/v1/ 2026-05-12T13:48:14Z 2026-05-10T13:00:00Z

A prospective tracker of councillor status changes from the 7 May 2026 cohort: resignations, defections, deaths, suspensions, and removals as they occur over the term ahead. All parties tracked equally, two-source verification per entry. Verified entries as of 12 May 2026: Stuart Prior (Reform UK; Essex CC + Rochford BC dual-mandate; resigned, Reform membership revoked), Jo Monk (Reform UK; Worcestershire CC; suspended by Reform after refusing to accept group's vote to remove her as leader), and Ashley Monk (Reform UK; Worcestershire CC + Redditch BC dual-mandate; suspended alongside his mother Jo, now sitting as independent). Pending verification: Glenn Gibbins (Sunderland; contested suspension status), Jay Cooper (Sefton; Reform leader verbal disavowal but no register change), Daniel Devaney (Bradford; pre-election Reform withdrawal but elected anyway). Methodology, cross-source landscape, and full per-party May 2026 baseline on the page. A live version with map and filters is at /council-changes-2026/v2/.

Paul G Webster https://pgw.report/labour-two-flanks/v1/ 2026-05-08T08:30:00Z 2026-05-08T08:30:00Z

A sourced analysis of how the 7 May 2026 local elections revealed Labour being squeezed simultaneously by the Greens on its progressive flank and Reform on its working-class flank, anchored in Lucy Powell's on-record admission and the question of how Andy Burnham returns to Westminster. Cross-source convergence from Wilson, Moorhouse, LBC commentary, Murphy, Persuasion UK and the Greenberg / UCL Policy Lab report on the structural-fragmentation thesis. Companion to the predictive structural-tests piece published 6 May; a separate verification piece will publish once full results are in.

Paul G Webster https://pgw.report/english-locals-2026/v1/ 2026-05-06T09:00:00Z 2026-05-06T09:00:00Z

A pre-election preview piece staking three falsifiable tests that distinguish a structural realignment of the 2024 Labour coalition from a uniform anti-incumbent punishment vote, ahead of the 7 May 2026 English local elections. Test 1: regional asymmetry between the eastern shires and inner London. Test 2: the northern metros at council level. Test 3: the Greens' governing threshold in Hackney. A verification piece publishes Friday morning 8 May, applying the same framework to actual results.

Paul G Webster https://pgw.report/reform-echr/ 2026-05-05T06:00:00Z 2026-05-05T06:00:00Z

Reform UK's published policy commits a Reform government to immediately leave the ECHR plus three more conventions: the 1951 Refugee Convention, the UN Convention Against Torture, and the Anti-Trafficking Convention. The piece traces the same Convention rights through police investigative duties, child safeguarding, mental health detention, the NI peace settlement, EU cooperation, and extradition, with every line linked to its primary source.

Paul G Webster https://pgw.report/doncaster-airport/v2/ 2026-05-02T17:00:00Z 2026-04-29T00:00:00Z

The 57 million pound council borrowing facility, the leaked Peel Group lease, the related Knight conflict-of-interest case, the three-way Reform UK internal split, and the 11 May 2026 extraordinary council vote. Version 2 adds the Mayor's open letter of 1 May, Reform's own February 2026 budget motion, the Councillor Charity attendance record, the Reform-Peel meeting in Manchester, and the Easter 2028 commercial flights target.

Paul G Webster https://pgw.report/lincolnshire-mayor/v2/ 2026-05-02T15:00:00Z 2026-04-27T00:00:00Z

Reform UK politicians' published statements, voting records, and documented links to far-right groups. Version 2 adds parliament.uk dual-citation alongside Wikipedia for biographical references after peer review.

Paul G Webster https://pgw.report/reform-in-power/v1/ 2026-04-29T00:00:00Z 2026-04-29T00:00:00Z

A sourced public-record account of how Reform UK councillors have conducted themselves in office across English authorities since the May 2025 local elections.

Paul G Webster