Latest news with #PaulIrwin
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Conservatives lose control of council by one seat
The Conservatives have lost control of Buckinghamshire Council after Reform UK and the Lib Dems made gains at the local elections. Historically, Buckinghamshire has been a strong Conservative county but while it has a majority on the council of 48 seats it needed to secure one more to keep control. However, Conservative leader at the authority Martin Tett, has put a loss of seats down to the rise of Reform UK. Voting turnout for the county was 37%. The unitary authority will now be made up of 48 Conservative councillors, 27 Liberal Democrats, 11 Independents, four Labour, three Reform UK councillors, two for Wycombe Independents and two councillors from the Green Party. The Conservatives have held control over the county council since 1973 and the new unitary authority since 2020. Martin Tett, leader of the authority's Conservatives says in this election "great" council leaders and councils had been lost. "Here in Buckinghamshire we have bucked the trend a bit. We haven't been wiped out, we are pretty well neck-and-neck between the Conservatives and all of the other parties added together. "I think we really just need to spend a little bit of time over the next two days to decide what to do. "The people of Buckinghamshire deserve a good council - well run with a good majority... we need time to assess what that might look like." He put the loss of seats down to Reform UK who he said had "cannibalised our vote seat after seat after seat". Until the election, Reform UK had just one seat on the authority in councillor Paul Irwin. There are now three Reform UK councillors but before the election Mr Irwin spoke of his hopes for more. He had said: "I'd like to get the minimum of six to 10 councillors - we can make a real difference with that - anything else will be a bonus." Buckinghamshire Council becomes the latest authority where the Conservatives have lost full control, and again Reform UK has played its part. The Tories - who have controlled both the unitary council and the previous county council for many years - ended up one short of the 49 seats required for a majority, after the Liberal Democrats picked up a councillor in the Missenden Ward, which in 2021 had been a safe Tory seat. Martin Tett, the Conservative group leader on the authority, will now have to work with his fellow councillors to find a smaller party to form a coalition with over the next couple of days. Tett attributed Reform UK's vote share in some seats as playing a part with his party's losses, although the party only picked up three seats in the county it perhaps stopped the Tories in several wards around the county. The Liberal Democrats have also increased its number of councillors on the authority and return to being the second largest party. The Green Party has also doubled its number of councillors, but Labour have dropped to four, with 11 Independents and two Wycombe Independents making up the council, which was reduced from 147 councillors to 97 by the Boundary Commission for England. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. Could it be a year for change in Buckinghamshire? Buckinghamshire Council
BBC News
02-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Conservatives lose control of Buckinghamshire Council by one seat
The Conservatives have lost control of Buckinghamshire Council after Reform UK and the Lib Dems made gains at the local Buckinghamshire has been a strong Conservative county but while it has a majority on the council of 48 seats it needed to secure one more to keep control. However, Conservative leader at the authority Martin Tett, has put a loss of seats down to the rise of Reform UK. Voting turnout for the county was 37%. The unitary authority will now be made up of 48 Conservative councillors, 27 Liberal Democrats, 11 Independents, four Labour, three Reform UK councillors, two for Wycombe Independents and two councillors from the Green Party. The Conservatives have held control over the county council since 1973 and the new unitary authority since 2020. Martin Tett, leader of the authority's Conservatives says in this election "great" council leaders and councils had been lost. "Here in Buckinghamshire we have bucked the trend a bit. We haven't been wiped out, we are pretty well neck-and-neck between the Conservatives and all of the other parties added together. "I think we really just need to spend a little bit of time over the next two days to decide what to do."The people of Buckinghamshire deserve a good council - well run with a good majority... we need time to assess what that might look like." He put the loss of seats down to Reform UK who he said had "cannibalised our vote seat after seat after seat". Until the election, Reform UK had just one seat on the authority in councillor Paul Irwin. There are now three Reform UK councillors but before the election Mr Irwin spoke of his hopes for more. He had said: "I'd like to get the minimum of six to 10 councillors - we can make a real difference with that - anything else will be a bonus." Election analysis: Reform UK has played its part Buckinghamshire Council becomes the latest authority where the Conservatives have lost full control, and again Reform UK has played its Tories - who have controlled both the unitary council and the previous county council for many years - ended up one short of the 49 seats required for a majority, after the Liberal Democrats picked up a councillor in the Missenden Ward, which in 2021 had been a safe Tory Tett, the Conservative group leader on the authority, will now have to work with his fellow councillors to find a smaller party to form a coalition with over the next couple of attributed Reform UK's vote share in some seats as playing a part with his party's losses, although the party only picked up three seats in the county it perhaps stopped the Tories in several wards around the Liberal Democrats have also increased its number of councillors on the authority and return to being the second largest Green Party has also doubled its number of councillors, but Labour have dropped to four, with 11 Independents and two Wycombe Independents making up the council, which was reduced from 147 councillors to 97 by the Boundary Commission for England. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
04-04-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Buckinghamshire Council: What you need to know for 1 May
Historically, Buckinghamshire has been a strong Conservative county, but as the decade has progressed, the party's grip on it has 2021, Liberal Democrat Sarah Green was elected as Chesham & Amersham's MP in a seat which had previously only ever been in last year's general election, Labour made gains in Wycombe and Aylesbury, leaving the county with just two Tory local government, the Conservatives have always been in control, both of the county council from 1973 and the new unitary authority since 2020. So could that change on 1 May? What does Buckinghamshire Council do? The unitary authority was set up in 2020, following the decision to replace the old county council and four district councils that covered Aylesbury Vale, High Wycombe, The Chilterns and South is separate from the unitary authority that covers Milton Keynes, but serves towns like Aylesbury, Buckingham, High Wycombe, and Beaconsfield. It is responsible for all the services a council provides, from social care to roads, planning and recycling and has a total budget for 2025/26 of £577m. How many seats are up for election? A Boundary Commission review means there will be a reduction in councillors from 147 to 97. Previously there were three councillors in each ward, but now there will be a mixture of two, three and single councillor Conservatives run the authority, with more than 100 councillors, but there are 16 independents, 13 Liberal Democrats, six Labour, one Reform UK and one Green councillor. There are also two councillors who are part of an independent network and two Wycombe independents, plus one vacancy. What to look out for on 1 May The Conservatives have a massive majority, but with the number of councillors significantly reduced that could change. Historically, Labour has performed well in Wycombe in local elections, and the Lib Dems the same in Aylesbury, aside from 2013 when UKIP won six councillors to briefly become the opposition party. Paul Irwin was one of those six, but in 2015 he crossed the floor to the Conservatives. He recently joined Reform UK and is its sole councillor at the Lib Dems have chosen to stand down from the party and are currently listed as independents on the council could play a part on 1 May with at least 25 unaffiliated candidates expected to stand. What are the big issues? Buckinghamshire faces similar concerns to other parts of the country, with numerous housing developments, particularly around Aylesbury, putting a strain on its under-pressure road HS2 rail line is also making increasingly significant inroads in places like Wendover and Stoke Mandeville with construction works near to the government recently gave the go-ahead for a new 1.1km (0.7mile) dual carriageway as part of a major bypass project around Aylesbury, and the authority also unveiled an increase in funding to £120m for its road network in its 2025/26 also announced a plan to make savings over the next three years of more than £115m, when Conservative leader Martin Tett said the authority remained in a period of "extreme turbulence" with "the local government sector as a whole currently on a financially unsustainable footing". How do you register to vote? Voters must bring an approved form of photo ID to vote at a polling who does not have approved ID can apply for free ID online, known as a Voter Authority Certificate and the deadline for that is 17:00 on 23 aged 18 and above who is not registered at their current address should do so by midnight on 11 takes only a few minutes to register at your current can apply for a postal or proxy vote which must be completed and returned by 22;00 on 1 May. The deadline for applying to vote by post is 17:00 on 14 will be counted on 2 May at Stoke Mandeville Stadium near Aylesbury with an estimated time for the full results from 19:00. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
