Staffordshire Reform has to prove it’s competent

The leader of a Reform UK-led council says the party needs to prove it’s competent enough to run local authorities.

Ian Cooper, leader of Staffordshire County Council, said the first 100 days of Reform’s control over the authority had seen it begin “changing perceptions” and getting on with the job.

The party won power from the Conservatives during the local elections on 1 May, winning 49 out of 62 seats with 41% of the vote.

Councillor Phillip White, leader of the Conservative opposition on the authority, said Reform had wasted its first 100 days.

Decisions made since Reform’s victory included stopping non-essential roadworks in parts of Stafford and not spending £4.5m of government money on electric vehicle charging points.

The council also said it was spending almost £14,000 on a new role to improve special needs education in the county.

“We have to prove to people we are competent,” Cooper told BBC Radio Stoke.

He said many people told the party after they came into power that they “did not know how to run things” and had no history in local government.

“We’re changing that perception,” he added. “We have great projects we are in the process of delivering and finding the money for.”

He said they had “lots of great things” in the pipeline but would not confirm what they were.

White told BBC Radio Stoke “very little had happened” in the first 100 days of Reform’s administration.

“Some people have been calling Staffordshire County Council a ‘do-nothing council’ over the last few months,” he added.

“It’s really worrying, without another council meeting until October, that it’s actually true. First 100 days – there’s actually not a lot to write home about.”

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage previously said it would send an Elon Musk-style Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) team into local authorities it controls to assess “wasteful spending”.

It was said in response to him being questioned about the county council having to pay an estimated £27,000 for a by-election after Councillor Wayne Titley stepped down from his Gnosall and Eccleshall seat, just two weeks after he was elected.

The contest, held on 17 July, was won by Conservative candidate Jeremy Pert, with Reform coming in third place behind the Green Party.

Cooper previously defended the cost and said he would not “take any lectures from other parties”.