Reform set to elect new county council leader

The Reform UK group that now controls Lancashire County Council will elect a leader on 10 May.

The vote had been expected to take place last weekend in the wake of the party's emphatic victory in the local elections, which saw it secure a majority at County Hall.

However, the Lancashire group had to await the implementation of rules and procedures for the leadership election process, which have now been drawn up by Reform at a national level after it also took control of nine other county councils across England.

The successful candidate will become the leader elect of the authority before a confirmation vote of the full council is heard at its annual general meeting on 22 May.

Stephen Atkinson, the former leader of Ribble Valley Borough Council, who defected to Reform from the Tories in March and was elected last week as the county councillor for Ribble Valley South West, has said he will be putting his name forward.

Fellow Reform county councillor Ged Mirfin, who sat on the authority as a Tory from 2021 until he also defected to Reform just six weeks before the elections, said the group wanted a leader in place as soon as possible in order to avoid a period of "political inertia".

The Ribble Valley North East representative also addressed criticism from the Labour and Liberal Democrat groups at County Hall about the lack of council experience amongst the new ruling group, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

"Many have experience of a different kind – some have worked in the NHS or the civil service – and we will be really trying to draw on people's skillsets and knowledge," Mr Mirfin said.

"There are also seven ex-district councillors within the group – not including myself and Stephen."

He is joined within the group by fellow former Tory colleague Matthew Salter, who became the first Lancashire county councillor to defect to Reform in March and was last week re-elected under his new political colours to his Wyre Rural Central seat.

The party's win with 53 seats has seen it secure the largest single-party majority at the council in modern times.

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