Make-up of Wiltshire Council's cabinet to be named
Wiltshire Liberal Democrats have named the councillors they want to hold cabinet positions – and they include one independent
Last updated 7th May 2025
They might not have won a majority, but as the dust of Wiltshire’s council elections settled at the weekend, it became clear that the Liberal Democrats had secured their best-ever set of results.
Wiltshire Liberal Democrats have named the councillors they want to hold cabinet positions – and they include one independent.
Both the Liberal Democrats, who won 43 seats at last week’s election, and the Conservatives, who ran the council for 25 years but lost their majority after being reduced to 37 seats, believe they have a shot at forming a new administration by doing deals with other groups.
Over the weekend, Lib Dem councillors elected the seven men and three women who would hold powerful cabinet positions in their administration. They include:
- Cllr Ian Thorn: Leader, communications and transformation
- Cllr Mel Jacob: Deputy leader, Communities, partnerships, engagement, libraries, leisure, culture, corporate services (HR/ ICT), governance, FM and operational services
- Cllr Gordon King: adult social care
- Cllr Gavin Grant: finance
- Cllr Adrian Foster: Strategic Planning, Development Management and Housing
- Cllr Jon Hubbard: Children services, education and skills
- Cllr Helen Belcher: Enterprise, commercial activities, innovation and economic development and assets
- Cllr Paul Sample: Waste, climate emergency and environment
- Cllr Martin Smith: Highways, street scene and flooding
- Cllr Clare Cape: Public health, co-ordination with the NHS
The statistics show that the Lib Dems also won the popular vote, garnering over 52,000 votes to the Conservatives’ 48,000.
The total number of votes cast for each party were:
- Liberal Democrats 52,159 (34.6%) 43 seats
- Local Conservatives 48,030 (31.8%) 37 seats
- Reform UK 31,425 (20.8%) 10 seats
- Independent 6,084 (4.0%) 7 seats
- Labour Party 5,138 (3.4%) 1 seat
- Green Party 4,960 (3.3%) 0 seats
- Heritage Party 66 0 seats
- Communist Party of Britain 26 0 seats
With town and parish council elections also being held, the Liberal Democrats came away with the largest number of wards won in the party’s history, and the largest number of Lib Dem councillors returned UK-wide.
Cllr Ian Thorn, who leads the Liberal Democrat group and hopes to be elected leader of the council on May 20 said: “I’m very pleased and rather humbled by the result. To win the popular vote as well as the largest number of seats legitimises our position to form an administration.
“We are focussed on ensuring a stable administration capable of delivering for Wiltshire residents.”