Reform UK moves to elect leader

Worcestershire's Reform UK councillors will meet today to select their first leader, as they look to secure control of the county council.

At least three contenders are expected to put themselves forward for the top job, including former Conservatives Bill Hopkins, Joanne Monk and Alan Amos.

After its success in the local elections, Reform UK now has 27 council seats, the most of any party. However, the group remains two short of an overall majority.

Members must decide whether to form a minority administration or form an agreement with another party. The county's new Conservative leader, Adam Kent, said his group would consider all options.

Of Reform's group, only councillors Hopkins, Monk and Amos have served on the county council before.

Each has their own position on how Reform should form an administration.

"Official policy is that we are not doing any coalitions or any deals. Our intention is to implement our manifesto," said councillor Amos.

"Obviously the reality is we're two votes short. So we will do whatever we can, within that context, to implement our policies."

Amos sat as the Conservative MP for Hexham from 1987 to 1992. After a spell in the Labour Party, he was elected as a Conservative councillor to Worcester City Council from 2015 to 2024. After leaving the party to become an independent, he joined Reform earlier this year.

"Being realistic and sensible, that doesn't mean you can't have discussions with other people, arrangements or understandings."

While a coalition agreement would require a formal deal between parties, a minority administration could allow Reform to pass decisions on a vote-by-vote basis, provided it could secure at least two extra votes or abstentions from other councillors.

But councillor Amos ruled out any deal with the county's Conservative group.

"We're there to replace them. We are not there to prop them up."

Since last Saturday, talks have been taking place between all the parties.

"What I have experienced… is how murky politics can be," said Bill Hopkins, another leadership contender, who insisted any talks should be transparent.

"People are sick to death of politics… we're straightforward, nothing hidden. I've got no sides and what you see is what you get," he said.

A former UKIP, Brexit Party and Tory councillor, Hopkins left the Conservatives at the beginning of 2024.

"My thought is that we will operate as a minority," he said.

"But in essence, what I want to have is a coalition, and I want the best people on their merit from each of the parties to join us together to form the next council."

"Voters turned to Reform because they are tired of backroom deals," said councillor Monk, who defected from the Conservatives in March and who declined to be interviewed.

"We should govern as a minority administration, with courage and conviction. We will offer an open hand to other parties and groups on issues where we can agree," she said in a statement.

Last Sunday, Reform UK's regional director Pete Durnell told the BBC's Politics Midlands programme the party would work with other groups. As well as Worcestershire, it has a majority in Staffordshire and is the largest group in Warwickshire.

In Shropshire, one of the party's newly-elected councillors has already quit, describing it as a 'cult'.

Despite Reform being close to a majority, talks are also understood to have taken place between the county's other parties: the Greens, Liberal Democrats and Labour.

"It is no overall control, so anything can happen," said one source.

"I think everyone is starting to talk to everyone… with lots of attempted horse trading."

Before defeat in last Thursday's local elections, the Conservatives had been in control of the county council for 20 years.

The Tories now have just 12 councillors, though remain the second largest party on the council.

The group's new leader, Adam Kent, said he expected Reform UK to lead the council and did not rule out a power-sharing agreement.

"We've got to deliver for the people of Worcestershire. I don't think it's just Reform," he said.

"I think everything is on the table. There's opportunities in all directions really."

He stressed his priority would be ensuring residents' key issues were addressed, including public transport, flood alleviation schemes and improvements to children's services and fostering.

"There wasn't really a local manifesto from Reform. It was all on national policies. So nobody really knows what they stand for locally," he said.

"As soon as we know who the leader of Reform is, it'll be clearer what we can do."

Any power-sharing agreement between parties must be reached before the County Council's Annual Meeting on 22 May.

Under the local authority's constitution, councillors must appoint a leader at that session, although they can subsequently remove them and appoint another.

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