The new Reform leader of Derbyshire County Council will be confirmed next week and formally take their post in two weeks’ time.
Reform UK took control of the county council in a ‘turquoise tsunami’ last week (May 2) following the local elections, winning 42 out of the 64 seats – two-thirds of all seats – taking the authority from the Conservatives after eight years of leadership.
In the days since then Reform has been holding talks within its group over who will lead their party and ultimately the county council, along with who will hold cabinet positions representing areas such as highways, children’s services and adult social care.
The leader will be announced on Wednesday, May 14, as part of the publication of council agenda papers for the annual general meeting at County Hall in Matlock on Wednesday, May 21.
Of the 42 Reform councillors who have been elected, none were county councillors before the election and only two hold positions elsewhere in Derbyshire.
Cllr Alan Graves, county councillor for Aston, is Reform’s leader on Derby City Council, and Cllr Stephen Reed, county councillor for Clay Cross & Tupton, is a member of North East Derbyshire District Council.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service had been told by Reform county councillors that a leader would be decided “this week or next week”, while another said it had already been decided on Saturday, May 3, and a further Reform councillor provided the May 14 date.
Nottinghamshire County Council’s Reform group are said to be deciding their leader by Monday, May 12, and Lincolnshire County Council’s Reform group yesterday (May 8) announced its leader.
A national Reform UK representative confirmed that it would be the Derbyshire group who would decide and appoint the leader following a “robust” process, not the UK leadership or Nigel Farage himself.
