Warwickshire vote sees Reform become largest party

The Conservatives have lost control of Warwickshire County Council amid a Reform surge seen in several councils across England.

Tory council leader Izzi Seccombe, who had led the council for nearly 12 years, lost her seat to David Curtis, from the Liberal Democrats, and the final tally left the authority under no overall control.

Big gains were seen by both the Liberal Democrat and Green Party groups, while Reform became the largest party on the authority with 23 seats, but was unable to secure a majority.

Liberal Democrats now form the second largest block with 14 seats.

The Conservative group has nine, the Green Party has seven, Labour has three and Whitnash Residents Association has one.

The council previously had a strong Conservative majority, holding 41 of 57 seats

One of the youngest councillors to be elected was George Finch, for Reform, who, at the age of 18, took the Bedworth Central seat, with 1,563 votes.

Judith Falps, from Whitnash Residents Association, who polled 939 votes to edge past Reform in her seat, described the outcome of the local elections as a "wake-up call" for major parties.

Liberal Democrat group deputy leader, Sarah Boad, re-elected for Leamington North, said most of Warwickshire's portfolio holders lost their seats and residents were going to get a "completely new broom" with a new set of people in charge.

With control of the council now up in the air, Nigel Clarke, chairman of the Warwick and Leamington branch of Reform, said his party was happy to work with the Conservatives at a local level and meetings were already planned.

"We're way past a protest vote," he said. "We're now at a stage where we understand that Britain is broken. We've had 100 years of Labour and Tories. Reform believe in starting again."

Reform's national leader Nigel Farage, speaking in Durham, said the results marked "the end of two-party politics".

Voters told the BBC that priority issues included traffic, climate change, recycling and litter, as well as early years education and social care.

Nuneaton's Labour MP Jodie Gosling defended her party's performance and said it was "not unusual" for a government to experience push back.

She added that she saw support for Reform and the Green Party as indicative of the "disarray of the Conservatives".

"There are still many families feeling the pinch," she said, "and the legacy we have been left with is going to take time to clean up."

Graham Curtis, who was a Conversative candidate for Attleborough, said the results reflected the feeling on doorsteps.

"A lot of the Reform votes have come from the Conservatives," he said."There seems to be that local feeling of protest and change."

The BBC has approached former leader Izzi Seccombe for comment.

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