Warwickshire vote: Set out local priorities, Lib Dems tell Reform
All parties on Warwickshire County Council would need to set out their priorities after none took overall control of the authority in Thursday's election, the local Liberal Democrats have said.The group forms the second largest block on the council, with member Jerry Roodhouse, who held his seat, saying he did not have "a clue" about the priorities of Reform - now the authority's largest party, with 23 councillors. The vote saw former Tory leader Izzi Seccombe lose her seat to the Liberal Democrats who secured 14.Since Reform's success, mirrored and bettered in other parts of England, party leader Nigel Farage has alluded generally to possible approaches.
He has spoken out against backing for some green technologies and diversity schemes, and while supporting values of "family, community and country", has opposed "woke" values, and urged an end to excessive council expenditure.With control yet to be decided between the players, Roodhouse said there had been no talk yet of any coalition deals, adding: "We'll have to wait and see how it goes."Nigel Clarke, the chairman of the Warwick and Leamington branch of Reform, has said his party is happy to work with the Conservatives at a local level and meetings are already planned.The Conservative group has nine seats, the Green Party seven, Labour three and Whitnash Residents Association one. The council previously had a strong Conservative majority, with the party holding 41 of 57 seats.
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Roodhouse said: "I would be really interested to see, apart from the national priorities they've spoken about in Reform - about climate change and all these other equality and diversity things they want to get rid of - exactly what they want to try and change and what their priorities are for Warwickshire."I haven't got a clue."He said: "The political parties need to lay out quite clearly locally what priorities they've got, so residents can get a clear view."The Liberal Democrat said he was "not overly-happy" about the prospect of a Reform-led council.However, he stated: "At the end of the day, we have a democratic system that operates. They are the biggest party."He said: "It is now clearly a different landscape."
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