Reform UK misses out on county council majority

Reform UK has narrowly missed out on gaining a majority at Norfolk County Council, despite gaining 38 seats to add to the two it already had.

The party needed to reach a total of 43 seats to take a majority of the council, which is now made up of 40 Reform councillors, 13 Liberal Democrats, 12 Greens, nine Great Yarmouth Firsts, eight Conservatives, one Labour and one Independent.

Rupert Lowe's new party, Great Yarmouth First, won all nine seats it contested.

A Reform UK Norfolk spokesman said: "We are grateful that residents have returned Reform UK as the largest party in Norfolk, and we intend to govern purely in the interests of people across this great county."

For the county council elections, 325,335 votes were cast, leading to a voter turnout of 45.44%.

At the 2021 county council elections, turnout was about 237,000 people.

The Conservatives lost 44 seats and Labour lost eight seats, leaving them with one in Hethersett.

Despite this, Conservative leader of the council Kay Mason Billig managed to narrowly retain her Loddon seat with 1,483 votes and insists her party will "fight back" from what looked to be a crushing defeat.

In King's Lynn, 12 of the 14 seats have been taken by Reform UK.

Alexandra Kemp kept her Clenchwarton and King's Lynn South seat and remains the only Independent at Norfolk County Council.

Speaking after re-election she said she was "really, really pleased" and would "continue to fight" on local issues including transport, the King's Lynn ferry and the West Winch bypass.

• As it happened: Live results and reaction from Norfolk

In eight of the nine divisions where Great Yarmouth First won, the candidates were followed closely by Reform UK coming second.

However, in the Yarmouth Nelson and South Town division, Great Yarmouth First Party candidate Callum Ward-Kendall received 1,357 votes and was followed by Jack Allen from the Greens (467) with Reform UK's Alexander Brown closely behind with 465.

Carl Smith, Conservative leader of Great Yarmouth Borough Council, lost his Breydon seat on the county council having only received 584 votes, leaving him third behind the Great Yarmouth First candidate Michael French with 1,824.

Graham Plant, cabinet member for highways, infrastructure and transport on the county council, came fourth with 572 votes - behind Great Yarmouth First's Barry Gravenell, who received 1,581 votes for Gorleston.

Jonathan Wedon, from Great Yarmouth First, received 1,708 votes with 43% of the ballot for Lothingland and said he was feeling on "top of the world".

He said: "Rupert [Lowe] has given Great Yarmouth the loudest voice it has ever had from an MP - we had the best representation ever.

"Believe me, as nine county councillors, we will give Great Yarmouth the loudest voice it has ever heard round that county council table and we will really start to make no apologies for the positive vision we want to take forward for Great Yarmouth."

Reform was by far the biggest winner but in a county it was hoping to take control of, did not quite win enough.

Forty seats means they are three short of having a majority which means they should be able to form a minority administration.

However, they will need to seek support from councillors in other parties on policies they want to vote through.

Potentially, the other parties could form a "rainbow coalition" to take control, although that seems unlikely.

The performance of Great Yarmouth First, which won all nine county council seats it contested, is probably what denied Reform an outright majority.

The results were disastrous for the Conservatives who have controlled the county council for most of the last 50 years and also for Labour, which was wiped out in its heartland in Norwich.

But the Greens will be delighted to have trebled their number of seats to 12, while the Liberal Democrats will be happy to have added to their numbers, performing particularly well in north Norfolk.

What happens next is unclear, but it will certainly be interesting.

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