Reform suspends councillor 'with immediate effect'

A newly-elected Reform UK councillor has been suspended, the BBC understands.

Kent county councillor Daniel Taylor for Cliftonville, near Margate, will now sit as an independent.

Taylor, who was seen with Nigel Farage on the campaign trail in Kent and was voted in during local elections on 1 May, is yet to publicly comment.

A Reform UK spokesperson said: "Following a matter which is now with the police, the group whip has been withdrawn from Councillor Taylor with immediate effect."

Opposition parties have called for a by-election after Taylor's suspension from Reform.

Green Party councillor Mark Hood said the "right thing" for him to do would be to resign and trigger a vote as Taylor "is no longer their [Cliftonville residents'] Reform representative and there is still almost four years left of his term."

Hood said there had been "paralysis" at Kent County Council (KCC) since Reform took control last month.

Several KCC committee meetings in June have been cancelled or postponed.

"The people of Cliftonville did not vote for this chaos," Hood added.

Reform took 57 out of 81 seats in the Kent County Council election at the beginning of May, wiping out the Conservative majority which had stood for nearly 30 years.

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