Reform largest party in 'hung' Leicestershire

The Conservatives have lost control of Leicestershire County Council - but no party has secured enough seats to command a majority.

Reform has become the largest party in the county after securing 25 seats in Thursday's local elections, just shy of the 28 needed to take full control.

The Conservatives have 15 seats, the Liberal Democrats 11, Labour has two and there is one Green and one independent.

Writing on X, Joseph Boam, chairman of North West Leicestershire's Reform branch, said: "Thank you to every voter who put their trust in us."

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Deborah Taylor, who was acting leader of the council, was re-elected to the Bradgate division.

Writing on X, she said: "Thank you to everyone that voted for me and supported me.

"Many valued colleagues have been defeated and I'm sorry to see them go.

"Discussions will be held over the next few days as to the way forward for Leicestershire."

By Tim Parker, BBC Leicester political reporter

The Conservatives have lost control of Leicestershire County Council for the first time in almost a quarter of a century.

With all the local election results now in, Reform has won 25 of the 55 seats in all - that's three short of an overall majority.

The Conservatives won 15 seats, while the Liberal Democrats gained a couple of seats and now boast a group of 11.

Labour, meanwhile, are down to two seats and independent Michael Charlesworth kept his seat in East Wigston.

There will also be representation from the Green Party, which gained its first seat at County Hall.

Among Reform's headline wins was Michael Squires taking Valley from Conservative leader Nick Rushton.

So, what happens next? Well, party leaders have got to agree some form of coalition so they can run the authority - that could take hours... or days.

Whoever does take charge will inherit unchanged issues - increasing demand for social care and special educational needs provision, financial challenges at County Hall and fixing the potholes.

And then, there's the matter of the whole council set-up in Leicestershire being reorganised.

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