Reform-led council to focus on wasteful spending

The incoming Reform UK leader of Staffordshire County Council says one of his party's first priorities in power will be to audit council expenditure.

Ian Cooper said he planned to "lift a few drains and see what comes out".

He told BBC Radio Stoke if a service was not "caring for the elderly and vulnerable, caring for or educating a child, fixing a pothole or cleaning a street", the party would look at whether it was needed.

Reform UK made history in the county in the recent local election when it won 49 of the 62 seats and took control from the Conservatives.

The new council cabinet, made up of 10 senior positions, has also been announced.

Cabinet members, chosen from newly-elected Reform councillors, will be given responsibility for areas such as health and care, special educational needs (SEND) and highways.

The party has introduced a new cabinet role for community safety, which Cooper said would give the council more scrutiny over the police and Staffordshire's police commissioner.

When asked about the inexperience of the new cabinet in local government, he said they had, in his view, impressive life skills.

"You've got to look at the CVs of those people on the front benches," he said.

"We have more business talent, and more professional talent, than the front bench of the current government."

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has described Staffordshire's previous administration as "woke"

On a visit to Staffordshire to congratulate his party's new councillors, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage branded the authority under the previous Conservative administration as "very woke".

He warned council workers involved in climate change policy or diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policy "it may be time to go and look for a different job".

Responding to these comments, Cooper said climate change would be treated as a "legal obligation to fulfil until that changes".

His approach to DEI was a "merit and ability" recruitment process, he said.

Staffordshire's next leader may be a new name to many voters in the county, but he has a background in politics.

Formerly a Conservative, he worked as campaign director for veteran Tory MP Ken Clarke in the noughties. He left the Tory party in 2011 and joined Reform UK in 2022.

His background is in printing and he started his career as an apprentice in his hometown of Nottingham.

He lives in Tamworth, where he won his ward, Perrycrofts, and stood as the Reform UK parliamentary candidate in the 2023 by-election and 2024 general election, coming third in both.

Cooper will be formally made leader at the next full meeting of the local authority on May 22.