Latest news with #RobHoward
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
16-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Reform UK group leader to head up Warwickshire County Council
A new leader has been chosen for Warwickshire County Council following local elections earlier this Rob Howard, head of the Reform UK group at the authority, was chosen as the council's leader at its annual general meeting on was not present at the meeting, having submitted apologies for his absence in holders for the new cabinet will be announced in the coming weeks. The council now comprises 23 Reform UK councillors, 14 Lib Dems, nine Tories, seven Greens, three Labour councillors and one representing Whitnash Residents are 57 councillors in total, meaning a group needs 29 seats or more to have outright none of the parties crossed that threshold, it meant the council was left in no overall Reform UK was the largest party, it held greater sway when it came to choosing the leader than other parties represented on the authority. Howard was nominated by deputy Reform UK group leader councillor George Finch and councillor Michael Bannister, also of nominations were made for Liberal Democrat councillor Jerry Roodhouse and Green councillor Jonathan Chilvers to be leader, but both won 28 votes from the councillors present at the meeting, while Roodhouse won 15 votes and Chilvers won 10 votes. There was one meeting also saw Reform's councillor Edward Harris chosen as the new chair of the authority and Conservative councillor Dale Keeling elected as role includes chairing meetings of full council every six weeks along with civic duties representing the authority at public events. Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
