Reform UK wins first seat on Walsall Council
Graham Eardley (centre) won with 1,231 votes
- Published
Reform UK has taken its first seat on Walsall Council.
Graham Eardley won the by election in Pelsall ward with just over 45% of the vote, the Conservatives came second with 43% of the vote, although they remain the largest group on the authority.
It comes after the council's former Conservative leader Garry Perry resigned in August, saying he had been subjected to "a campaign of political attrition, deliberate undermining, and personal hostility".
Eardley said he would speak up for Pelsall, "ask questions and get answers" around the York's Bridge construction, external, and tackle the issue of motorbikes on McClean Way.
Eardley, who lives in the village, also launched a petition calling on Walsall Council to close any hotels in the borough that house asylum seekers and reopen them for public use.
Government figures from August confirmed no hotels in the borough were being used for that purpose.
The win is the latest in a series of electoral successes for Reform UK, which has taken over the leadership of councils in Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire.
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