A candidate who is standing for councils in both Cornwall - where she lives - and Buckinghamshire has said that the elections are “totally pointless and a waste of time and money”.

Bettina Harries is standing for election to Cornwall Council in the Wadebridge East & St Minver division but is also a candidate in the Marlow division in Buckinghamshire.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service highlighted Bettina’s nominations last week with the candidate saying that she had lived in Cornwall for more than five years.

However at the weekend Bettina sent an email thanking us for the coverage which she says highlights “the total absurdity of our upcoming local elections”.

She also said that she was “totally relaxed that no-one will vote for me in either ward in which I am standing”.

The Reform UK candidate said: “Nobody turns out for local elections – well… about five people. Of those, about two will vote Conservative and the other three will be split around whoever else is on offer.

“In both Buckinghamshire and most of Cornwall, the Conservative candidates will be elected – guaranteed! They always are. Both of the wards where I am standing will elect Conservatives – guaranteed. There will never be any change because of our electoral system – First Past the Post (FPTP).”

Bettina said that she wanted to see a system of proportional representation installed and that without this nothing would change.

She said: “Because of FPTP, the political party dominating councils and governments will not necessarily be the one that gets the most votes and invariably doesn’t get the most votes.  Remember UKIP in the 2015 General Election – they got nearly 4 million votes and only one MP at Westminster? Or the Green Party? Well over 1m votes and one seat. The Green Party got nearly as many votes as the SNP who got 56 seats! For almost the same number of votes!! Is that a fair system?”

And she added: “In the meantime, I of course am totally relaxed that no-one will vote for me in either ward in which I’m standing. Reform UK is a new party and simply wants to appear on as many ballot papers as possible. Even if I do get a few rebel votes, I will not be troubled by success. Which is just as well, because I will be busy doing a Masters in Governance and Devolution in Cardiff in September, sadly not representing the good people of Marlow or the Wadebridge area in their councils and standing up for the environmental issues in both places that are my total obsession.

“Although, if everyone did vote for Reform UK wherever possible, then you would be guaranteed change. This election would then not be pointless after all.”