PA MediaA Labour-run council leader has admitted “some people are very cross” following the resignation of their local MP Angela Rayner from the government over her tax affairs.
Eleanor Wills, who has led Tameside Council in Greater Manchester since October 2024, said: “There are mixed views about it but she has offered her apologies.”
Ashton-under-Lyne MP Rayner quit as deputy prime minister and housing secretary last month after it emerged she had failed to pay enough tax on her £800,000 flat in Hove, East Sussex.
Rayner said she took “full responsibility for this error”, adding: “It was never my intention to do anything other than pay the right amount.”
Wills also acknowledged that Labour was currently “feeling the pressure” from Reform UK ahead of next May’s local elections.
And she urged voters to be “mindful of what any change might represent”.
“When I’ve spoken to potential Reform UK candidates,” she said, “they haven’t had local insight and when they’ve been asked about issues in Tameside, they’ve talked about boats.”
Tameside Council has been run by Labour ever since the borough was created in 1974.
While there were no local elections in Tameside in May, Reform UK won a by-election in the Longdendale ward in April, picking up 47% of the vote.
Reform UK said the councils it controlled were “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% year-on-year.”
‘Special measures’
Wills also told Radio Manchester it had been “upsetting” when Tameside’s children’s services department was placed in special measures for the second time in 10 years.
An Ofsted report published in February 2024 identified serious failures which left vulnerable children in the borough either being harmed or put at risk of harm.
The criticisms highlighted an over-reliance on agency staff, and too many vulnerable children were said to have experienced a change in social worker.
Wills said: “There are absolutely things in place now to ensure that children and families are having a positive experience in Tameside.”
In the last 12 months, the authority said it had also strengthened the rules on when properties can be converted into houses in multiple occupation (HMOs).
The Tameside Council leader said: “HMOs used to be called bedsits but we want to offer assurances to residents, to give local people some oversight.”
Wills also spoke about her council’s decision in June to introduce two hours of free car parking across the borough.
“It’s a privilege to make a difference in people’s lives and things like introducing the free car parking offer is one of those meaningful changes,” she said.
