Ex-Tory quits council and joins Reform UK

Robin Hunter-Clarke (left), another former Conservative, welcomed Julian Kirk to the party

A former Conservative has joined Reform UK and says he will quit his seat on the county council because of the decision to postpone local elections this year.

The resignation of Julian Kirk – who quit the Tories last month - will trigger a by-election at Norfolk County Council, and he says he will try to win back the seat for Reform.

He said calling off the full council election - because of plans for a devolution deal with the government – "was totally undemocratic".

The Conservatives, who control the council with a sizeable majority, were asked for comment.

Kirk won the Marshland North seat in the 2021 county council elections.

He also sits on King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council.

The farmer was previously the deputy chairman of the Conservative association in former Prime Minister Liz Truss's constituency of South West Norfolk.

When he left the Tories last month, he said he planned to join Reform.

Announcing his decision to resign as a county councillor, he said he did not believe members of the authority had a mandate to continue beyond 1 May – when this year's elections were due to take place.

Last month, Norfolk County Council voted to postpone this year's council elections

"The decision that Norfolk County Council took in agreeing with the Labour government to cancel May's elections was totally undemocratic," he said.

"I think they made that decision because they feared the people of Norfolk would vote them out."

He took aim at his former colleagues and said they had not supported him in his opposition to plans for travellers' sites.

Reform UK's Norfolk co-ordinator, Robin Hunter-Clarke, said he was confident Kirk would win back the seat: "He will be the only member of the authority with a mandate to sit at County Hall."

It is unclear when a by-election would take place, but according to the Electoral Commission, one should be held "between 25 and 35 working days" of a council seat being declared vacant.