Anger over ‘laissez faire’ Labour drove Reform UK Doncaster’s new leader to politics
Howard Rimmer believes established political parties have stood by and allowed the UK to “go down and down and down”.
Doncaster’s most senior Reform UK councillor was driven to enter politics over his frustration at “laissez faire” governments, he has revealed in an interview.
Like all his party colleagues on the City of Doncaster Council, Councillor Howard Rimmer was first elected to public office in May 2025, as part of a turquoise takeover of the council chamber.
As part of his recent interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), the former pub landlord and salon boss lifted the lid on what drove him to enter politics.
“I was angry that things were laissez faire, that’s the Labour Government. Just letting it carry on. I could see things getting worse,” he said.
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“I wanted something better for my grandchildren,” he added.
Cllr Rimmer said that 2025 was the second time he’d run for election to Doncaster Council for Reform UK, after an initial, unsuccessful attempt in 2021.
He made it clear that concerns over immigration were a key driver behind his start in politics, and what pushed him to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
He claimed: “I could see that the country wasn’t big enough for the influx we’re getting.”
It is an opinion that has dominated the UK’s political landscape for over a decade. The UK is the fifth most densely populated country in Europe, but only eight to 11 per cent of the country is “built-up or urbanised”, limiting housing supply.
Cllr Rimmer also claimed the UK couldn’t afford to “support” people coming to the country from abroad, despite research showing immigrants are net contributors to the economy – meaning they put in more than they take out.
“The state of the country is on its way down and down and down,” Rimmer said, taking aim at Labour politicians nationally and locally.
He said: “90 per cent of our work [on the council] has nothing to do with politics, probably 95 per cent, but still it’s ‘our way or no way’ from them.”
He added: “The biggest population of citizens that get nothing from the council are those that work.
“Their complaints are litter, state of the city centre, vagrants, potholes, grass cutting, simple things that the council don’t keep up with. But those are the people that are supporting everyone else.”
Rimmer, who represents Roman Ridge ward, now leads the largest party on Doncaster Council, but will act as the chamber’s Leader of the Opposition, due to the council operating a system where power is held by the Mayor of Doncaster, which Labour’s Ros Jones was elected to in 2025, and their cabinet.