Kirklees Reform leader addresses viral video clip

The leader of a Reform UK council group who was mocked after a clip of her admitting she didn't know council rules went viral said she believed she had been a victim of "Reform-bashing" online.

Councillor Sarah Wood said she had taken the "central points" from the experience on 20 May and new councillors on the Kirklees authority had undergone extra training.

Wood confessed to a lack of knowledge about council processes despite standing to be the leader of the authority. She and a Green party opponent failed to obtain a majority and the election of a new head was postponed until the evening of 28 May.

"Honestly, we did the best we could with what we had around us at the time," she said.

Wood and Green Party councillor Andrew Cooper underwent two rounds of votes to break the deadlock in the vote for leader. When a councillor suggested a "suspension of orders" to prevent people not voting, she said she did not know about the council's processes

Speaking ahead of the reconvened meeting, Wood said she had watched the clip from the previous meeting, which was filmed by the council.

She said: "I think I took the central points out of it, because it's important to listen.

"The central points were we didn't know the CPRs (contract procedure rules), we've addressed that.

"We've cleared the central point. The rest is noise and it's really about Reform-bashing I think."

The leader said all her Reform UK councillors, including herself, had undergone further training but said induction for new councillors could be improved.

She said: "You've got to remember that a lot of these councillors, new councillors and not just us, are coming from jobs."

She said she was stepping down from her current job to concentrate on being a councillor.

Reform UK is the largest party at Kirklees Council following the 7 May elections.

It has 29 out of a total of 69 seats, but fell short of a majority.

The Greens have 12, Independents 11, Conservatives nine, Liberal Democrats five and Valley Independent Group three.

Wood added: "Yes, we need to know procedures. Yes we need to do the homework. And we have addressed that now and we have put that right."

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