There is more bad news for Reform UK at Cornwall Council. Another of the group has left to become a Standalone Independent following the same move by former Reform deputy leader Cllr Rowland O’Connor earlier this month.
Cllr Karen Knight, who was voted in at the May election as the Reform UK councillor for Camborne West & Treswithian, will now represent the division as a Standalone Independent. We have contacted her to ask why she has made the move.
Cllr Knight’s switch means that Reform – which was voted in as the largest political group on Cornwall Council – now has 26 councillors rather than its original 28. However, we have been told that as many as four more councillors could resign from the party over the next week.
The news comes after the shock resignation of Cllr Rob Parsonage as leader on October 11 following criticism from a former Reform branch chairman in Cornwall. He said today (Friday, October 24) that he is still a Reform member.
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There has been much talk in recent weeks within and without the party about infighting, including a very public row among Reform members in a Cornish pub last week. The Reform Cornwall Council group’s new leader and deputy leader, Cllr Paul Ashton and Cllr Roger Tarrant, will now be hoping to unite their members going forward.
The recent changes now mean that the political make-up of Cornwall Council is:
- Reform UK – 26 seats
- Liberal Democrats – 26 seats
- Independents – 16 seats
- Conservatives – 7 seats
- Labour – 4 seats
- Mebyon Kernow – 3 seats
- Green Party – 3 seats
- Standalone Independents – 2 seats
The council has a Lib Dem / Independent coalition administration.
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