Seven days on from election and Reform still to decide leaders
The leaders of the other political groups are announcing who will take charge but the final decisions in Reform are yet to be made
By Sarah Ward
A week on from their shock election landslide, Reform UK is yet to announce who the leaders will be on the two councils.
In the West the party is in control with a relatively slim majority of four (it has 42 of the 76 councillors) and in the North Reform have 39 councillors on an authority of 68 members.
Former leader of Wellingborough Borough Council Martin Griffiths is almost certain to be elected in the North and in the West the likely contender is events company organiser Mark Arnull, with former police officer Tony Owens also in the frame.
Both groups have met once already and will have their final ballots in coming days, with the North meeting tomorrow to finalise the official secret ballot and the West needs to finalise everything before the annual council meeting next Thursday.
The slow start is relatively unusual and indicates the party’s inexperience in these matters, as Northants and the other ten councils won by Reform on Thursday are the first time Farage’s party has been in local control.
Lincolnshire is the only Reform UK council which has so far announced who its leaders will be.
We spoke to the leaders of the opposition groups across the North and West unitaries and heard many say they want to work with the new administration where possible, but there is still uncertainty about Reform UK actually stands for at a local government level.
Party leaders on West Northants
Former WNC cabinet member Dan Lister, was elected to represent Long Buckby and has been chosen as the Tory group leader. He will be deputised by David Smith and the Tory group now stands at 17.
He said:
“There’s going to be some things they do that are Conservative values and what Conservative voters will align to, we are not going to oppose for opposition sake. We will be a robust opposition that will stand up for the residents of West Northants to ensure services continue to be delivered as they should be.
“The people obviously voted for change and we want to ensure that it is the change that people expected.”
He did say ‘I don’t think anybody knows’ the policies Reform will be pursuing.
Former MP and newly elected Dallington and Spencer councillor Sallly Keeble will be in charge of the Labour group and Bob Purser will be her deputy.
She said:
“We’re a small group, but we bring to the council great ability and diversity in our members. West Northamptonshire faces some profound challenges, in service delivery, finances and also now the unknown of administration by a new political party.
“Through all of this I will lead the Labour group to work for the improvement of council services and life chances for local people. We have a particular mandate to ensure that the council tackles the disadvantages that blight some lives and to respect the diverse communities in our area.“I, and the group, look forward to working with colleagues on the council and in the wider community to make West Northamptonshire the best possible place to live, work and raise a family.”
The Lib Dems will be led by Jonathan Harris, who has served four years on the unitary since 2021. His deputy will be Rosie Humphreys.
He said:
“I and my fellow Liberal Democrat colleagues will stand up for our rural communities and market towns. We will continue to hold this new administration to account, but at this precise moment we don’t even really know what they stand for other than some of the national rhetoric which we have seen, which frankly has little or no bearing on what sits within their scope.
“Worrying about what flags are flown at the Guildhall or anywhere else will not change people’s lives. There has been plenty of discussion about efficiencies and audits, but the creation of the unitary council four years ago has already taken many of those big-ticket items in terms of costs of staff, costs of councillors and costs of facilities. You can only keep squeezing the lemon for so long until people start to experience even worse services.
”We know that there are areas of service delivery that concern residents. We need to put people first not political dogma. We have all been elected to serve the people of West Northamptonshire, not anyone else. That’s what we Liberal Democrat councillors will focus on day in and day out and we will work with officer and councillor colleagues to ensure that the people of West Northamptonshire get the very best deal”.
The North group leaders
Helen Harrison was elected last night as group leader of the Conservatives, which is now the largest opposition group on the authority with 13 councillors. A former cabinet member for adult social care and then environment, she has much experience and says she is happy to share that and handover to Reform’s successor.
She said:
“Basically we want to be very professional, very organised and help Reform to continue to deliver a fantastic council with fantastic services.
“Where we believe they are doing the right thing we will support them wholeheartedly and where we think they are not we will make our feelings clear on the matter.
“What I want to see is an end to personal insults in the council chamber.”
Mark Pengelly has been announced as the group leader of the four Labour councillors elected onto the North unitary.
He said:
“We have got a big job on our hands and we have to start rebuilding Labour. I will be dealing in a professional manner with Reform. They have made a lot of promises and now have to deliver. But the main job of opposition will be to hold them to account.”
The Green Party group on NNC will decide their leader at a meeting tonight.