Reform UK elects Staffordshire group leader

Reform UK's Ian Cooper is expected to become the next leader of Staffordshire County Council.

The Perrycrofts ward representative was chosen as head of the party's Staffordshire group following a meeting of Reform's newly-elected councillors.

It means he will likely be elected as the authority's leader when a vote takes place at the next full council meeting on 22 May.

Reform won 49 out of 62 seats on the county council during the local elections on 1 May, winning control from the Conservatives who had led the authority since 2009.

Mr Cooper said it was an "honour and a privilege" to be elected as Reform's group's leader.

"The people of Staffordshire have given us a clear mandate for serious change and we fully intend to deliver that," he added.

Councillor Martin Murray, who represents Cannock Chase, was elected as the group's deputy leader at the same meeting.

Reform UK won 41% of the votes in Staffordshire having had no councillors on the authority prior to the recent election.

The Conservatives went from 53 seats to 10, while Labour lost four of its five councillors.

The two remaining seats were won by the Green Party and the Stafford Borough Independents.

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