The county that shows how benefits cuts and bills drove voters from Labour to Reform

At PACT House community cafe in Stanley, County Durham, local residents come in to pick up household essentials from a food bank and stick around for a chat and hot drink.

While these services used to serve unemployed or young people, it is now commonly helping families who are struggling to get by on a single income.

“We have washing machines here, they used to be just for people who were homeless, people in temporary accommodation or for a short period of time because the washing machine was broken,” said Darren McMahon, founder of PACT House.

“Now it’s people using services because they can’t afford to wash their clothes at home because of energy prices.”

Increases in gas and electricity bills are just one factor contributing to the rising cost of living in County Durham over the last month. Council tax also jumped by 5 per cent across the county – a rise of £122 for a Band D property.

Historically a ‘red wall’ seat, County Durham council had been run by a coalition of Conservatives, Independents and Liberal Democrats since Labour lost their majority at the last local elections in 2021 – the party’s first loss in a century.

Now, Reform UK has taken control taking 65 of the 98 councillors, which includes former GB News presenter, Darren Grimes, a County Durham native who won the Annfield Plain and Tanfield ward.

‘We’re here to stay’ 

Polling by Survation last month showed Reform pulling ahead of Labour in the North East, with 30 per cent support, up 12 percentage points from their vote share in the general election.

And at the local elections, Reform made sweeping gains across the country adding over 600 councillors and taking control of 10 councils.

Nigel Farage visited County Durham twice last month, saying on a visit to Stanley that the council had “failed residents” and accusing them of “squandering local people’s hard earned cash”, according to The Northern Echo and BBC.

Speaking at a celebration event in Newton Aycliffe as council seats continued to trickle in, Farage critcised Sir Keir Starmer for not taking Reform seriously when he joked Labour would have the Tories “for breakfast”.

“But he missed a bit. We were going to have the Labour Party for lunch and that’s what we have done,” Farage said.

‘A perfect storm’

The East Durham Trust, which helps organisations supporting people in poverty, has seen an increase in people using their emergency services like food parcels, especially single men and those in part-time work and receiving benefits.

Chief executive Graham Easterlow said people “keep needing to come back” for support.

“Calling it a cost of living crisis makes it sound like it might end,” he said. “What we’re seeing is the impact of a sustained rise in the cost of living.”

Jennifer, a single mother of four, was forced to use a food bank in East Durham this month after rising bills wiped out her monthly budget. The Direct Debit for her council tax bounced as there was no money left in her bank account, with her wages unable to keep pace with cost increases.

She said: “Everything is going up in price. I can’t sleep at night with worrying about it all. I don’t know how people are going to survive. More people will have to come and get food parcels like I’ve had to do.”

Mr Easterlow said residents face a “perfect storm” of welfare reform and increases in council tax, bills and food.

“People are very, very frightened about what reform to the welfare and benefits system might mean for them,” he said. “We’ve had a spike in calls asking us what’s going to happen. We have to say ‘look, we know as much as you do’.”

Barbardo Dodds, a visitor to the PACT House community cafe, said: “We just don’t get enough to get by.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced restrictions on the eligibility criteria for Personal Independence Payments (PIP), a key benefit received by disabled people. The Government’s own analysis found that tightening up the criteria will result in three million people missing out on the payment. The Government has argued that changes to the benefits system are needed to make it sustainable and get more people into employment.

Paul Jones, another visitor to the PACT House cafe, said “all this talk of revisiting benefits is frightening”. “If I lose my PIP, I don’t know what I’ll do,” he said.

‘A lot of anger’

Mr McMahon said most people who use PACT House’s services are disillusioned with the major political parties, which could be contributing to the rise in support for Reform.

“Lots of people lost trust in politics a long time ago,” he said. Mr McMahon said people feel that “it doesn’t matter who’s in control, we’re always worse off”.

“If someone’s saying they’re going to make life better, and life’s been hell for 15 years, you can’t argue with that,” he said of Reform’s campaigning in the area.

Judith Ballan, a manager at Angel Trust foodbank in Bishop Auckland, said she thinks tougher economic conditions will “definitely” affect how people vote in the local elections.

“There’s a lot of anger,” she said ahead of the election. “I think people are really angry at local government because they’re not helping people, they’re not doing anything about it.”

“We’ve seen a big increase in people coming in for food parcels,” she added. “It’s not just young people, people in their 40s and 50s are coming in now. It’s people who are working but they just can’t make ends meet. What with everything going on, there’s just nothing left for gas and electric.”

Mr Easterlow said local outrage is understandable. “With council tax going up, of course people are angry,” he said. “Local government are taxing households to balance the books, they’re taking and taking with wages not going up, people have less disposable income. This isn’t a sustainable way to balance the books.”

Even after the council tax increase, Durham County Council was still facing a funding shortfall of £21.2m when the Budget was announced in February due to rising costs, particularly of adult social care, and a lack of funding from central government.

Mr Easterlow thinks that while pressures like rising energy bills aren’t actually in local government’s control, they could still affect how people vote.

He said: “People will find the closest thing to try to blame, because they aren’t quite sure who’s responsible and how.”

Whether or not the council are responsible, come next week the people of County Durham will have their say on how tough it has become to get by in worsening economic conditions.