Reform gains first Somerset councillor after Tory defection
Reform UK has gained its first unitary councillor in Somerset after a long-standing Conservative councillor defected to the political party.Bente Height, who represents Shepton Mallet, said she was "very happy" that Reform would best represent the interests of people in the town.Ms Height was originally elected to Shepton Mallet Town Council in 2009 and then Mendip District Council in 2011 as a Conservative councillor for the Shepton East ward.She said: "I have spoken to Ann Widdecombe and others. I am now very happy that Reform UK will serve my constituency better than any other party."
After retaining her seat in 2015, Ms Height successfully stood as an independent in 2019 before re-joining the Conservatives in July 2020, becoming one of two division members for Shepton Mallet on the new Somerset Council in the May 2022 local elections.Nearly three years into her term, Ms Height has now jumped to Reform UK, which is led by Nigel Farage.Explaining her decision to defect, Ms Height said: "My constituents constantly tell me they see no difference between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties, and there should be a substantial difference."We have unique problems in Shepton Mallet that are just not being dealt with by these parties."There are only two surgeries with no extra provision made for the many newly arriving people."
'Huge frustration'
She added: "Of huge frustration is also the lack of road maintenance, and the same old parties promise that they will deal with the problem, but instead spend precious money on frivolous things."Ms Height, who is Danish and moved to the UK in 1992, is now an official member of the Wells and Mendip Hills parliamentary constituency branch for Reform.The party is seeking to improve on its performance at last year's general election, where Helen Hims finished third in the newly-formed constituency with 13.1% of the vote behind the winning Lib Dem candidate, MP Tessa Munt (46.9%), and Conservative candidate Meg Powell-Chandler (24.8%).Reform's constituency branch chair Aimee Smith said: "It's fabulous to have Bente with us as we rapidly expand our members and supporters, and it's clear we are going to work very well together to bring the genuine change that people are so desperately seeking."
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