By-election battle to replace Reform councillor

Voters go to the polls in part of Staffordshire on Thursday to replace a Reform UK councillor who stepped down just two weeks after the local elections.

Wayne Titley, who was elected in Gnosall and Eccleshall, was part of a wave of councillors that swept the party to power on Staffordshire County Council in May, taking 49 of the 62 seats, and wiping out the previous Tory majority.

However, he faced criticism over a post on Facebook in March that called on the Navy to intercept small boats attempting to reach Britain and use a "volley of gun fire aimed at sinking them".

Reform stood by Titley, but said he had stepped down because he had faced personal abuse.

Party leader Nigel Farage was asked on a visit to Stafford last month about whether he considered the cost of this by-election, about £27,000 in taxpayers' money, "wasteful spending".

He said: "It's unfortunate. This guy said some things on social media he shouldn't have said, as a result of that came under some pretty abusive online pressure, and would rather it hadn't happened."

Boundary changes in the Gnosall and Eccleshall ward has meant campaigning in villages rich in Conservative, Reform, and Green voters.

Candidates tell me it could be a three-way race. The result is expected to be announced on Friday.

Reform candidate Ray Barron has previously served as a borough and county councillor.

He was a member of the Conservative party until 2022, when he became an independent, then joined Reform last year.

Unsuccessful in the county election on 1 May, Barron said he could not have worked harder to campaign for this seat, and that he thought it would be a "coin toss" over who won it.

He said if he won the seat he would use his experience as an ex-county councillor to help his politically inexperienced Reform colleagues.

While Labour start from a low base on the county council, having just one councillor representing the party in Staffordshire, their candidate Leah Elston-Thompson is hopeful.

Following the election of a Labour MP in July 2024 when the party saw a landslide victory, Elston-Thompson said if she was elected in Gnosall and Eccleshall, she would carry on the good work the government does on a local level.

Conservative Jeremy Pert is hoping to use this opportunity to win his seat back.

There were just 27 votes separating him and Titley in May.

Pert said this by-election was about two things: holding the new Reform administration to account; and providing a strong local advocate to make sure the area "doesn't get overrun" with more than 1,000 houses planned for development.

Pert served on the county council for eight years in the Eccleshall ward.

Green party councillor Scott Spencer is looking to build on the momentum the Greens have picked up since winning their first ever seat on the county council in May.

He said "on a Reform-led council I would bring evidence based solutions, not empty promises."

He added, in his view, "Greens can win here".

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