Latest news with #WayneTitley
BBC News
a day ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Tories beat Reform in Staffordshire County Council by-election
A by-election, which was called after a Reform UK councillor stepped down just two weeks after he was elected, has been won by the Pert won Thursday's contest for the vacant Gnosall and Eccleshall seat on Staffordshire County Council after securing 1,689 votes (44.4%).The Green Party came second with 1,037 votes (27.3%), followed by Reform on 938 votes (24.7%) and Labour on 140 votes (3.7%). Turnout was 34.8%.The seat was vacated by Reform's Wayne Titley in May after 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". Titley has not addressed the post, which has since been removed, but he said he was resigning for "personal reasons".The by-election result left Reform with 48 councillors on the authority, a clear majority, with the Conservatives on 11 and the Greens, Labour and Stafford Borough Independents with one apiece. Pert was an Eccleshall councillor for eight years until he was beaten to the seat by Titley in May's local elections by just 27 had served as a cabinet member on the Conservative administration and is also the current opposition group leader at Stafford Borough his victory, he paid tribute to the elections team and count staff, describing the process as a "well-oiled machine". He added: "None of us expected to see a by-election so early on and none of us wanted that. Thank you to everyone for coming out and voting."The work starts tomorrow. I have been elected by the residents of Eccleshall and Gnosall and I am here to support them." This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations. Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tories win Staffordshire by-election triggered by Reform UK scandal
Conservative councillor Jeremy Pert is back on Staffordshire County Council - after regaining his seat from Reform UK in a by-election. Mr Pert was narrowly defeated in May's all-out elections by Reform UK's Wayne Titley by just 27 votes. But Mr Titley resigned less than a fortnight later, with personal reasons cited for his departure. In the days between his election and resignation, controversy had swirled on social media as comments attributed to his Facebook account about illegal boat crossings came to light. Former Stafford Borough councillor Ray Barron, who stood as a Reform UK candidate at the May elections, had hoped to retain the Eccleshall & Gnosall seat for the party that swept to power two months ago. He lost out then in the Stafford South East seat, which was held by veteran Conservative councillor Ann Edgeller. READ MORE: Japanese knotweed heat map shows the hotspots in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire READ MORE: 'I visited Alton Towers this summer and was staggered by the queue times' Now in the early hours of Friday (July 18) he has had to settle for third place however, with 938 votes, after Councillor Pert won the Eccleshall & Gnosall by-election by a sizeable margin. He took the top spot with 1,689 votes. Green Party candidate and fellow borough councillor Scott Spencer was in second place with 1,037 votes. Labour's Leah Elston-Thompson was in fourth place with 140 votes. Overall turnout at Thursday's by-election was 34.8% - higher than some areas of Stafford Borough saw in the May poll. Before his May unseating, Councillor Pert had served as a cabinet member on the Conservative administration. He is also the current opposition group leader at Stafford Borough Council. Following his victory at Gnosall Memorial Village Hall, he said: "None of us expected to see a by-election so early on and none of us wanted that. Thank you to everyone for coming out and voting. The work starts now. I have been elected by the residents of Eccleshall and Gnosall and I am here to support them. There is a significant amount of casework that we need to sort out and there is a whole range of issues. Some residents are suffering from the speed of traffic, while other residents are suffering with the threat of rampant housing development. I have eight years' experience running a cabinet department. I am sure that experience can be very useful to the wider council." The by-election result means that the Conservatives now hold 11 county council seats. Reform UK have 48 out of 62, while Labour, Green and Stafford Borough Independents each have one seat. Staffordshire County Council Eccleshall & Gnosall Division by-election result Ray Barron (Reform UK) 938 Leah Elston-Thompson (Labour) 140 Jeremy Pert (Conservative) 1,689 ELECTED Scott Spencer (Green Party) 1,037 Number of rejected papers: 1 Turnout: 34.8% Get daily headlines and breaking news emailed to you - it's FREE
BBC News
3 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Gnosall and Eccleshall by-election 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 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 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. 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. Who is standing? 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 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 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".
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Reform council leader defends by-election cost
The Reform UK leader of a council has accused other political parties of hypocrisy over their reaction to the cost of a by-election, after one of his councillors resigned. Wayne Titley won the Eccleshall and Gnosall ward for Reform earlier in May but faced criticism over a social media post around immigration and stepped down. His resignation means a by-election at an estimated £27,000 cost and the Conservative leader on the council called it a "waste of money". But Ian Cooper, for Reform, said he would not "take any lectures from the other parties". "If you look at Staffordshire alone, Conservative MP Chris Pincher stood down, if you look at the figures, parliamentary by-elections cost in the region of £250,000," he added. "You always get people that drop out, Mr Titley decided to drop out, we move forward." But Conservative group leader Philip White described the resignation as shocking. "I asked the leader of the council to apologise for that, for the waste of money, £27,000 we're told and for putting the people of Eccleshall and Gnosall through an unnecessary by-election process," he said. "He refused to apologise." Thursday saw the first meeting of the new county council since the election. Questions at the gathering from opposition councillors, about issues such as special needs provision, highways and budgets, were met with the same line of response from Reform UK cabinet members. They said they would wait to "mark the homework" of the previous Tory-led administration before responding. Cooper added that he would like to repeat that council work had only just started for the newly elected Reform members. "There is a settling in period, steep learning curve for everyone involved," he said. "In the background we've got things going on. We have a forward plan to think about". Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram. Reform councillor quits two weeks after election Reform wins control of Staffordshire County Council
BBC News
22-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Staffordshire County Council Reform leader defends by-election cost
The Reform UK leader of a council has accused other political parties of hypocrisy over their reaction to the cost of a by-election, after one of his councillors Titley won the Eccleshall and Gnosall ward for Reform earlier in May but faced criticism over a social media post around immigration and stepped resignation means a by-election at an estimated £27,000 cost and the Conservative leader on the council called it a "waste of money".But Ian Cooper, for Reform, said he would not "take any lectures from the other parties". "If you look at Staffordshire alone, Conservative MP Chris Pincher stood down, if you look at the figures, parliamentary by-elections cost in the region of £250,000," he added."You always get people that drop out, Mr Titley decided to drop out, we move forward."But Conservative group leader Philip White described the resignation as shocking."I asked the leader of the council to apologise for that, for the waste of money, £27,000 we're told and for putting the people of Eccleshall and Gnosall through an unnecessary by-election process," he said."He refused to apologise." Thursday saw the first meeting of the new county council since the at the gathering from opposition councillors, about issues such as special needs provision, highways and budgets, were met with the same line of response from Reform UK cabinet said they would wait to "mark the homework" of the previous Tory-led administration before responding. Cooper added that he would like to repeat that council work had only just started for the newly elected Reform members."There is a settling in period, steep learning curve for everyone involved," he said."In the background we've got things going on. We have a forward plan to think about". Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
