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Reform council leader defends by-election cost

Jen Aitken
BBC Stoke and Staffordshire political reporter
BBC Ian Cooper sits in a chair in the library of the county building. He is wearing a suit and blue tie, with a union flag badge pinned to his jacket. BBC
Reform UK leader Ian Cooper hit back at criticism of his party over a by-election

The Reform UK leader of a council has accused other political parties of hypocrisy over their reaction to the cost of a by-election, after one of his councillors resigned.

Wayne Titley won the Eccleshall and Gnosall ward for Reform earlier in May but faced criticism over a social media post around immigration and stepped down.

His resignation means a by-election at an estimated £27,000 cost and the Conservative leader on the council called it a "waste of money".

But Ian Cooper, for Reform, said he would not "take any lectures from the other parties".

"If you look at Staffordshire alone, Conservative MP Chris Pincher stood down, if you look at the figures, parliamentary by-elections cost in the region of £250,000," he added.

"You always get people that drop out, Mr Titley decided to drop out, we move forward."

But Conservative group leader Philip White described the resignation as shocking.

"I asked the leader of the council to apologise for that, for the waste of money, £27,000 we're told and for putting the people of Eccleshall and Gnosall through an unnecessary by-election process," he said.

"He refused to apologise."

Philip White wears a suit and stripey tie, in the county building. He has short dark hair, is not smiling and stands in a white-led room.
Tory council leader Philip White criticised Reform over the cost of the by-election

Thursday saw the first meeting of the new county council since the election.

Questions at the gathering from opposition councillors, about issues such as special needs provision, highways and budgets, were met with the same line of response from Reform UK cabinet .

They said they would wait to "mark the homework" of the previous Tory-led istration before responding.

Councillors gather on the steps of the county building. The men and women stands on steps, rising away from the camera, between dark wooden bannisters.
The newly elected councillors for Staffordshire County Council posed for official photographs on the day of their first meeting since May's elections

Cooper added that he would like to repeat that council work had only just started for the newly elected Reform .

"There is a settling in period, steep learning curve for everyone involved," he said.

"In the background we've got things going on. We have a forward plan to think about".

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