Reform UK - Tunbridge Wells

05/09/2026

🇬🇧 Reform UK at Conference

Great to see Councillor Wayne Chapman from Kent County Council attending the Reform UK Conference alongside Michael Hadwen, Leader of Suffolk County Council, and Sean Matthews, Leader of Lincolnshire County Council.

Three councillors from three counties, coming together to share ideas, discuss the challenges facing local government and, most importantly, look at how we can do things differently and better.

Local government needs a new approach — less waste, greater accountability, better value for taxpayers and decisions that put local residents first.

It’s particularly encouraging to see Kent represented at the conference. Wayne Chapman is helping ensure that Kent’s voice is heard as Reform continues to build its presence across local government.

Reform UK is growing — nationally and locally. 🇬🇧
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04/09/2026

BRITAIN NEEDS ENERGY SECURITY
NOT ENERGY IDEOLOGY

Today at the Reform UK Conference, energy security was rightly at the heart of the debate.

We heard from Kathryn Porter, a respected energy expert who has consistently challenged the assumptions behind Britain’s increasingly expensive and unreliable energy policy.

For too long, successive governments have treated energy as an ideological project rather than a matter of national security.

The consequences are being felt by ordinary people and British businesses through high energy costs, while our dependence on imported energy leaves us exposed when the world becomes less stable.

Britain should be making the most of the energy resources available to us and building a system that delivers reliable, affordable power 24/7.

We cannot have a strong economy without secure energy.

We cannot have energy security while making ourselves increasingly dependent on others.

And we certainly cannot expect working families to keep paying the price.

Reform UK believes Britain must put its own people, businesses and national security first.

🇬🇧 Secure energy. Lower costs. Stronger Britain.

Pictured: Kathryn Porter with the Chair of Reform UK Tunbridge Wells at Conference today.

04/09/2026

ENERGY SECURITY IS NATIONAL SECURITY

Great to see Kathryn Porter at the Reform UK Conference today.

Kathryn is one of the clearest voices challenging the direction of Britain’s energy policy — and asking a question Westminster seems determined to avoid:

Why are British families and businesses being made to pay more and more for energy while our own industries become less competitive?

Her message is straightforward: Britain needs cheap, reliable and secure energy. We need to be able to keep the lights on, heat our homes, power our businesses and support British industry.

Driving productive industry overseas doesn’t magically make emissions disappear. We risk closing British businesses, destroying jobs and then importing the same products from countries with less stringent environmental standards.

That isn’t energy security.
That isn’t protecting British industry.
And it isn’t a sensible way to run an economy.

Reform UK believes Britain needs an energy policy based on reality, affordability and security — not political ideology.

Kathryn Porter is asking the difficult questions. Britain needs to start listening.

🇬🇧 Cheap energy. Secure energy. British energy.

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04/09/2026

So proud of Cllr Dodger Sian who was speaking at Conference today 🩵👏🏻

04/09/2026

Great news. This is something we’ve been waiting for 🩵




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04/09/2026

WHO REALLY HAS THE RECORD FOR REGULATION?

There is a lot of talk about cutting red tape and reducing the number of regulations imposed on the British public.

But here is an interesting fact.

In 1992, under the Conservative government, 3,359 Statutory Instruments were made — at the time an all-time record. The figure was actually described in Parliament as the highest number in the history of Government and Parliament.

However, the story doesn’t end there.

The record was subsequently exceeded. In 2001, for example, there were 4,147 Statutory Instruments, although that figure was unusually high because hundreds related directly to the Foot and Mouth outbreak.

And the figures demonstrate something important:

👉 The growth of regulation is not exclusively a Conservative, Labour or Liberal Democrat problem.

Successive governments have used Statutory Instruments to introduce thousands of pieces of secondary legislation.

So when politicians promise to “cut red tape”, perhaps the public should ask a very simple question:

How many regulations will you actually remove — rather than simply promising to stop adding more?

The British public don’t need endless new rules.

They need less bureaucracy, fewer unnecessary regulations and government that trusts people to get on with their lives.

Less red tape.
More freedom.
More common sense.

03/09/2026

🇬🇧 THE HEALTH & SAFETY ACT 1974 —
DID IT CREATE BRITAIN’S REGULATORY BURDEN?

We often hear that the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 is responsible for the explosion of regulation in Britain.

But what do the facts actually tell us?

The 1974 Act remains the foundation of Britain’s workplace health-and-safety system. It gave Ministers powers to make detailed health-and-safety regulations through Statutory Instruments (SIs). (HSE)

And there is no doubt that a substantial body of regulations has followed.

For example, 1992 alone saw important health-and-safety regulations covering:

🔹 Display Screen Equipment
🔹 Manual Handling
🔹 Personal Protective Equipment
🔹 Workplace Health, Safety and Welfare
🔹 Health and Safety Leasing Arrangements
🔹 Miscellaneous health-and-safety provisions

The HSE itself lists these as Statutory Instruments from 1992. (HSE)

But here’s the crucial point.

There were 3,359 Statutory Instruments in total in 1992.

That means it would be misleading to suggest that the Health and Safety at Work Act was responsible for the 3,359 figure.

Statutory Instruments cover an enormous range of government activity — from health and safety to taxation, transport, NHS administration, agriculture, planning, pensions, education and much more.

And Britain was already producing 2,356 SIs in 1986, before the 1992 peak. By 1999 the number had risen to 3,488, and in 2001 it reached 4,147.

So perhaps the bigger question isn’t:

“Who introduced the Health & Safety at Work Act?”

It is:

“Why have successive governments of different political colours continued to create thousands of pieces of secondary legislation every year?”

The 1974 Act may have been an important part of the growth of workplace regulation.

But it wasn’t responsible for Britain’s entire regulatory burden.

If we want less bureaucracy, we need to look at the whole system — and hold every government accountable for the rules it creates.

Less unnecessary regulation.
More accountability.

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03/09/2026