Four West Sussex councillors have quit the Conservative Party and hope to be snapped up by Reform UK.
Carson Albury, Carol Albury, Neil Parkin, and Andy McGregor all serve on Adur District Council, with Mr Albury and Mr McGregor also serving on West Sussex County Council.
A joint statement from the four said: “We joined Margaret Thatcher’s Conservatives: only Reform upholds her values. Values that made our country great again.”
The four have yet to speak to anyone officially about standing as Reform candidates in May’s elections, and will finish out their current terms as Adur Independent Councillors. This makes them the official opposition to the Labour administration on the district council.
The political make-up of the council is now Labour 17 seats and Adur Independent Councillors four, while the Conservatives, Green, Shoreham Beach Residents’ Association, and Lancing & Sompting Independents all have two seats.
The group acknowledged that they may have left it too late to stand for Reform in the coming elections but said they ‘preferred to move with their conscience’ and sit as Independents in the meantime.
With bad results forecast for the Conservatives – one poll predicts they will receive just 7 per cent of the votes in Adur in May – accusations could be made that the four are jumping ship to join the team seen as more likely to win. The councillors agreed that the timing looked bad, but insisted they had been unhappy with the Conservative Party since Boris Johnson was dethroned by Rishi Sunak.
As for the impact on West Sussex County Council, the political make-up changes to: Conservative, 38; Lib Dem, 10; Labour, eight; Green & Independent Alliance, five; Reform UK, four; Adur Independent Councillors, two; Independent, two – and one vacancy.
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