Reform UK take Staffordshire County Council
Reform UK have stormed to victory to claim Staffordshire County Council
Last updated 2nd May 2025
At 12.15 today (Friday 2 May), Staffordshire County Council confirmed that Reform UK had won the 32 seats needed for a majority.
The Conservatives have controlled this county since winning in 2009, they won in 2013, 2017 and 2021. They entered this election with 53 of the 62 seats available.
The national surge in support for Reform was very much reflected in Staffordshire's results, with candidates from Nigel Farage’s party taking seat after seat from the Tories.
Simon Tagg was the sole survivor among the Conservative county councillors in Newcastle, after he successfully defended his Westlands, Thistleberry and Keele seat. It was also a disappointing night for Labour, who once again failed to get a single county councillor elected in Newcastle.
But the night belonged to Reform, with the party’s candidates putting their success down to voters’ disillusionment with the two main parties, and a desire for change. They also spoke of the need to audit the county council’s spending to reduce waste.
Nicholas Lakin, who won in Bradwell and Porthill with 1,471 votes, said: “I put it down to common sense. People in Bradwell and Porthill have common sense. They can see through Labour and they can see through the Conservatives.
“If we’re in control of the county council we’re going to carry out a financial audit, and once we’ve done that we’ll decide what to do. We don’t know what waste there is until we look.
“I’d like to tell everyone in Bradwell and Porthill that I will represent them, it doesn’t matter who they voted for.”
It was a doubly successful night for Reform’s Lynn Dean, who was elected county councillor for May Bank & Wolstanton, while also winning the by-election for the Newcastle Borough Council seat of Knutton.
She said: “It is quite overwhelming. I would like to pay tribute to the other candidates who worked very hard. But I think people wanted change. The most important thing that we want to do is to stop the waste at the county council.”
Elsewhere in the borough, Reform’s Adam Griffiths put his victory in Newcastle South down to the fact that he had lived in the area all his life and was ‘Clayton through and through’, while newly elected Audley & Chesterton councillor Rhys Machin said his Christian faith had played an important role in his win.
Mr Tagg, who is also the Conservative leader of Newcastle Borough Council, said that if the Reform majority is confirmed, they will have to prove themselves in office.
He said: “At last year’s general election, voters said that they’d had enough of us, and after a year of a Labour government, they don’t like Labour either, so it’s clear that they’ve decided to turn to someone else. I’ve been a councillor for a long time, people know I work hard for the area, and I’m delighted that they’ve given me another four years. If Reform win control of the county council it will be up to them to build a record, and people will judge them on that at the next election.”
There are still more results to be declared but Reform UK has won the 32 seats needed for a majority. This results was finalised at around 12.25 today (Friday 2 May).