Latest news with #IzziSeccombe
BBC News
06-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Reform to 'dumb down' diversity and net zero council programmes
The new leader of Warwickshire County Council has pledged to "dumb down" net zero and diversity initiatives at the Rob Howard told the BBC change would not happen overnight as the 22 newly elected Reform councillors get to grips with how the council party became the largest on the local authority following May's local elections, as the previous Conservative administration lost 32 seats, including that of former council leader Izzi council leader will be Howard's first job in politics, although he has some experience of the political scene having finished third running for the party at the 2024 general election in Nuneaton. He faces no shortage of challenges, not least the fact Reform has a minority administration, meaning the party needs the support of others to pass motions. So far, the Conservatives have helped Reform get their votes over the line, but the alliance is not guaranteed and the leader says decisions will be made on a "case by case basis".But how could things look different under Reform?Howard said: "Things can't suddenly change overnight, but certainly initiatives to do with net zero will be dumbed down as much as we possibly can and the same with DEI [Diversity, Equality and Inclusion] they're two things... that we don't particularly like as a party." The first full council meeting following the local elections saw Green Party councillor Keith Kondakor suggest Reform should be "terrified" at the prospect of running such a large local authority with such little Howard - a marketing expert, originally from Coventry - said he was not intimidated by the challenge of running a local authority with £1.5bn of assets and a revenue budget of about £500m."At the end of the day there's a job to be done, simple as that," he said. The new leader was on holiday when he was appointed, prompting members of the Green Party on the council to label him the "absent leader" during the full council meeting where he was voted said he would "accept the criticism" but added: "I think a lot of people think I just deliberately booked the holiday just so I could keep out the limelight, but no."It was a holiday I booked before Christmas, which, at the time, I didn't know the significance of the dates in May."Howard also said he had been assured by council officers that the authority could operate without him being present and that he had actually ended up spending about half his time on holiday dealing with council business. The authority faces severe challenges around finances, particularly in relation to special educational needs and disabilities (Send) provision in the county, with the bill expected to reach £84.7m by April 2026 - about 13% of its annual said he was "aware" of the issue but did not "know enough" to comment on it in asked what the biggest issues facing the county were, he said: "Population explosion is probably the best way to describe it, everybody else calls it immigration."All of that is putting pressure on roads, on housing, on schools, the NHS in terms of waiting lists and so on and so forth. It's no secret that it's a big concern of us as a party."
BBC News
02-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Warwickshire County Council vote sees Reform become largest party
The Conservatives have lost control of Warwickshire County Council amid a Reform surge seen in several councils across council leader Izzi Seccombe, who had led the council for nearly 12 years, lost her seat to David Curtis, from the Liberal Democrats, and the final tally left the authority under no overall gains were seen by both the Liberal Democrat and Green Party groups, while Reform became the largest party on the authority with 23 seats, but was unable to secure a Democrats now form the second largest block with 14 seats. The Conservative group has nine, the Green Party has seven, Labour has three and Whitnash Residents Association has council previously had a strong Conservative majority, holding 41 of 57 seats One of the youngest councillors to be elected was George Finch, for Reform, who, at the age of 18, took the Bedworth Central seat, with 1,563 Falps, from Whitnash Residents Association, who polled 939 votes to edge past Reform in her seat, described the outcome of the local elections as a "wake-up call" for major Democrat group deputy leader, Sarah Boad, re-elected for Leamington North, said most of Warwickshire's portfolio holders lost their seats and residents were going to get a "completely new broom" with a new set of people in charge. With control of the council now up in the air, Nigel Clarke, chairman of the Warwick and Leamington branch of Reform, said his party was happy to work with the Conservatives at a local level and meetings were already planned."We're way past a protest vote," he said. "We're now at a stage where we understand that Britain is broken. We've had 100 years of Labour and Tories. Reform believe in starting again."Reform's national leader Nigel Farage, speaking in Durham, said the results marked "the end of two-party politics". Voters told the BBC that priority issues included traffic, climate change, recycling and litter, as well as early years education and social Labour MP Jodie Gosling defended her party's performance and said it was "not unusual" for a government to experience push added that she saw support for Reform and the Green Party as indicative of the "disarray of the Conservatives"."There are still many families feeling the pinch," she said, "and the legacy we have been left with is going to take time to clean up." Graham Curtis, who was a Conversative candidate for Attleborough, said the results reflected the feeling on doorsteps."A lot of the Reform votes have come from the Conservatives," he said."There seems to be that local feeling of protest and change."The BBC has approached former leader Izzi Seccombe for comment. Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
