Three months since Reform’s landslide victory in Thurrock, Essex, residents in the town of Grays are still coming to terms with what a local council run by Nigel Farage’s party means for them, and becoming increasingly divided over its policies.

In May, Reform won 45 of the 49 seats on the council, taking over from Labour which had held overall control of Thurrock since 2024. The party also gained Suffolk and Essex county councils as it continued to create a sphere of influence in the south east.

Among the administration’s first decisions were to remove Ukrainian solidarity flags from council offices, scrap net-zero pledges and ask central Government to finance immigrants’ accommodation and subsistence.

But the party’s preoccupation with immigration has unsettled some residents in Thurrock, which has more people born outside of the UK calling it home than any other area in Essex, according to the 2021 Census.

And now, although the party still has strong support, divisions are starting to emerge in the area.

Reform critics looking to move out

The area’s multiculturalism is evident as you walk around, with Turkish barbers, African restaurants, and South Asian grocery stores all open for business.

While residents are aware of how diverse the area’s population is, they have polarised views on whether or not this is a good thing, likewise with Reform’s success.

Some Grays residents told The i Paper they see a link between tensions in the area and Reform’s electoral success – with one even looking to move out as a result.

Daisy Glover, 26, a Green voter, said she was “very upset” by Reform’s victory and thinks the Ukrainian flag removal decision was “petty”.

The new council replaced the Ukrainian flag with the Thurrock coat of arms, under a policy to only fly local, regional and national flags outside its buildings.

The mother of a mixed-race daughter is mostly concerned about the ramifications of Reform pushing anti-immigrant sentiment.

“I’m not a big fan at all,” she said. “I’m very much left wing, I suppose, just in general and obviously because of my daughter. I don’t want her to grow up in an area that’s racist.”

Janet, a 35-year-old teacher living in Grays, who only wanted to give her first name, believes Reform’s local election victory is representative of the direction community relations have headed in the area, citing the display of England flags, St George’s Cross road markings and increased hostility.

“The way in which people interact here – I’m not from Thurrock, I’m actually from East London – so I can see the difference clearly.

“Before, you’d see people and everyone would say hello as they walked past. That’s not really the case anymore. That’s changed,” she said.

Malgorzata Gancarz, 42, a Conservative voter and teaching assistant originally from Poland, said she feels “uncomfortable” with Reform’s gains and is worried about the future of EU settled status.

“You don’t know what to expect,” she said of Reform. “There’s always lots of promises; that’s why they are getting more and more power.”

‘Won’t care’ about climate until it gets worse

Lucy Benjamin, a 41-year-old special education teacher, said she was disappointed but not surprised by Reform’s local election win.

“As a person of colour, you don’t live in an area like this without knowing what the underlying feelings are,” she said.

The Green voter is also concerned about the council’s recent decision to rescind its climate emergency declaration and commitment to achieving net zero by 2030 – a policy that several other Reform-led councils have taken upon election.

“I think it’s awful. But I think, not just politically, there’s a real misunderstanding about what’s happening in the world and people are just happy that it’s hot,” she said. “Until it starts to impact us more here, I don’t think they will care.”

‘Think of their own first’

On 31 July, Thurrock’s council leader, Richard Bingley, wrote to the Home Office to request that local authorities receive funding for the financial support provided to families with no recourse to public funds – an immigration condition that prevents people from accessing most welfare benefits.

He said: “It is not right that local council taxpayers should foot this bill.”

Ms Benjamin disagrees. “I think that immigrants who choose to come here to make a better life should be given as much support. And anybody who thinks that helping somebody in need is going to negatively impact them, I don’t even know why we’re listening to them.”

Retired falconer Chris Jordan, 69, is no fan of Reform but believes the council should “think of their own first”.

The Conservative voter said: “There’s a lot of kids around here that could do with houses, who need to live local. At the back of us is a housing estate and when it first opened up they were putting immigrants in there… why couldn’t they have done that for the local kids?

“Not everyone is bad,” he said. “But we should still look after our own in the area.”

Reform voters told The i Paper spoke to in Grays agreed with Bingley’s pushback on local taxpayers funding for immigrants.

One, a former Ukip voter who gave his name as Bill, said: “I don’t think anyone should be funding it. I think it should be stopped. That’s why I vote Reform.”

Conservative-turned-Reform voter Margaret Martin, 78, said she agreed with calls for local taxpayers to be shielded from paying to support immigrants.

When it came to other funding issues relating to Reform, such as the controversy surrounding Farage’s £5m gift, a matter which led to the Reform leader triggering next week’s Clacton by-election, Ms Martin’s support for the party did not waver.

“The money that Nigel Farage was given was before he was an MP,” she said, adding that Sir Keir Starmer received gifts during his premiership.

“It’s not just Reform that are taking it, it’s all the parties. They’re all as bad as each other really in that way,” she added.