Reform recently lost yet another councillor. They’re well into the double figures by now.
This time it’s Ed Hill. Reform recently threw him out of the party, cancelling his membership.
The stated reason the party gave for his eviction was that he wrote to MPs about free school meals signing the letter from all Devon’s Reform councillors, even though the rest of them hadn’t formally given their permission to be included. Supposedly this “damaged the interests of the party” who presumably do not want to be seen to be in favour of a policy as progressive as helping feed hungry children.
However, Ed Hill, and plenty of other people, don’t believe this is the real reason they wanted to get rid of him. Especially as he believed he did have their consent to sign the letter
In a WhatsApp exchange seen by ITV West Country, Mr Hill attempted to ask his fellow Reform councillors if they’d be happy to sign the letter about free school meals, which was addressed to all of Devon’s MPs and published on social media.
One councillor said: “They will sign the letter, they just won’t join this group.”
Hill thinks it’s a stitch-up, saying:
Let’s be clear: this incident is being used as a pretext
So why else might Reform want to get rid of him?
A while ago he reported a couple of his council colleagues and an election agent to the police for breaches of election expense rules.
For UK county council elections, spending limits are set per ward based on how many voters there are there. Mr Hill reported now-councillor Neil Stevens for breaching those limits by over a hundred pounds – spending £1995.72 compared to the limit of £1827.04.
He alleges that Stevens’ brother, Tony Stevens, who also just about won his a council seat in the same election for Reform, claimed a podcast expense that should have been split between the brothers – meaning that Neil would have been over the limit by a larger amount than the above suggests.
So Hill made a complaint about this to both the police and the electoral commission, because he’d made:
“a clear promise to the people of Exeter” to “hold our candidates and councillors to the same high standards we expect of others”.
Ed clearly joined the wrong party if that was how he wanted to behave.
What did Reform UK do about his report? Well, as we’ve seen so many times already, holding candidates and councillors to high standards really isn’t their scene. So, naturally they immediately demoted Ed Hill from the position of chairman of Reform UK party for “bringing the party into disrepute” – presumably for reporting this crime. Telling someone about the offence is clearly a much bigger infraction than committing it in the first place for this corrupt party.
Of course Reform has no intention of taking any action against Neil Stevens, the Reform councillor who is alleged to have committed the offence.
Hill was permitted to carry on doing his basic councillor job as a Reform representative.
Until now, when he was forcibly ejected from the party entirely, supposedly due to the letter based offence outlined above.
Perhaps it wasn’t unexpected. He claims that Reform were already taking out their anger at being caught out for potential electoral crimes on him, saying in a statement that:
Since reporting a fellow Reform UK councillor to the police for suspected electoral offences, I have been systematically ostracised from internal party communication — removed from WhatsApp groups, excluded from meetings, and shut out from coordination with my own colleagues. If Reform UK had maintained proper internal channels, this situation would never have occurred.
And that for all their clearly ridiculous claims about openness, honesty, accountability and transparency Reform have no intention of fostering an environment conducive to that, saying:
This is not just a personal matter. It raises wider questions about how Reform UK treats whistleblowers, how it manages internal discipline, and whether it can honestly claim to support transparency and accountability.