Senior Conservative councillor says party paid the price for national issues

ONE of the few senior Conservatives to hold on to their seats in the Staffordshire County Council elections says councillors have paid the price for national issues.

Reform UK won an historic landslide victory as they took a firm grip of the authority by winning 49 out of 62 seats – despite having previously never won a single seat in the county.

The previously dominant Conservatives – who had been in charge since 2009 – were reduced to just ten councillors, while Labour could only manage one win across the county.

One Green councillor and one independent were also elected.

Reform will now have to choose one of their number to be the county council’s new leader, with the formal vote due to take place at the annual council meeting on 22nd May.

But the election was a disaster for a Conservative party still reeling from its defeat in last year’s General Election.

They came into the election holding 53 of the 62 seats, following two successive landslide victories, but now have just ten councillors – their lowest ever number.

The biggest Tory defeat came in Lichfield Rural East, where council leader Alan White lost his seat to Reform’s Tracey Dougherty.

Mr White had led the county council since 2020, after first being elected to the authority in 2009.

Other Tory cabinet members to lose their seats were Ian Parry, Mark Deaville, Jeremy Pert, Robert Pritchard, Mark Sutton and Jonathan Price.

Deputy Conservative leader Philip White was among the handful of Tories to retain their seats.

He said voters in Staffordshire had flocked to Reform largely due to national issues – and claimed the Tories could be proud of their local record at the county council.

“The story in Staffordshire has been the national story. Clearly Reform have done very well in these elections. They spoke to national issues that people care enough about to want to vote in local elections on those issues.

“What we’re proud of as Staffordshire Conservatives is that we will be handing over an extremely well-run council which is financially stable, efficient and in a good place to serve the people of Staffordshire well for years to come.

“As a Conservative opposition we will be holding Reform to account for their actions and ensure they run the council well.

“I think our record speaks for itself. We all know that councils are facing challenges across the country, such as adult social care and special educational needs.

“Those do make running a council difficult. But having been dealt a challenging hand, we’ve run the council well.”

Cllr White added that politicians would be “foolish” to ignore the election results, but he suggested that the national Conservative party should now take some time to reflect on their defeat.