How the Reform tsunami came to Lydd - and what might come next

A little over a month ago, Reform UK stormed to victory at the Kent County Council elections, capturing 57 of the 81 seats. Yet 63 per cent of electors who cast ballots did not vote for Nigel Farage's party. Local democracy reporter Simon Finlay went to Romney Marsh to ask non-Reform voters why a “political earthquake" occurred on May 1...

- Simon Finlay

people are fed up with the status quo and are pushed to the political margins is hardly new, and is happening all over the world.

He recalls how one woman said recently that in the absence of a credible two party system, who else is there but Reform?

Asked if Reform is playing on fear, he responded: “Yes, absolutely. I do believe that fear is being stoked and played on. I don’t think there is much room for doubt on that.

“The Bible is full of examples of people making rash decisions at times of high emotions.”

As a recently-qualified RNLI life-boatman and chaplain to its crew, he is also aware of the powerful symbolism of the small boats crisis which often lands, literally, on the shores here - but he is not prepared to “demonise” anyone from either side.

While he recognises that people in this deprived area of Kent are struggling, the notion that migrants are coming off the small boats into “a life of Riley” is “patently untrue”.

Father Jack is watching events at Kent County Council unfold with some interest as Reform UK storms up the national polls - Electoral Calculus even has Nigel Farage’s party on course to comfortably win the next General Election.

He said: “Local government is a world away from national government. It will be interesting to what happens.”

Romney Marsh is a place of harsh contrasts - from the desolate grandeur of Derek Jarman's cottage gazing out over Dungeness beach with the power stations’ spectral silhouette looming the distance, to the candy floss and caravan parks of Dymchurch.

Inland, flat farmland is dotted with sheep and looker huts and punctuated by dykes, while ancient churches sit in odd places.

The Marsh’s many wonders were what brought the Reverend Canon Sheila McLachlan, who sits on New Romney Town Council, here from Kingsnorth ten years ago.