Reform UK council leader welcomes defecting Tories

Stephen Atkinson defected from the Tories in March

The leader of Lancashire County Council - Reform's Stephen Atkinson - has denied claims that the party has become "a refuge for Tory rejects".

The criticism appeared in a now-deleted social media post in which Jim O'Neill, who leads the Reform group on Blackpool Council, said the party "may be morphing into something I didn't sign up for".

A number of high-profile former Conservative MPs including Nadine Dorries and Dame Andrea Jenkins have defected to Reform in recent months.

Stephen Atkinson, who also defected from the Tories when he left his role as leader of Ribble Valley Council, said the party was "going to need experience".

'Free speech'

He told BBC Politics North West that Reform leader Nigel Farage was "getting us ready for government" and the "country is in such a mess that we need to be ready to go".

He added: "We are the party of free speech. We should be able to be open and honest.

"I think it would have been better if we'd done that within the party but absolutely everyone has a view."

Atkinson said O'Neill "celebrated when I came across from the Tory party".

He added that he ran Ribble Valley Council "on traditional Conservative principles - efficiency, weekly refuse collection, people paying the lowest council tax - we always had people at the centre of what we did".

'Attention seeking'

O'Neill, a former Conservative himself who now represents the Marton ward, previously said: "I'm not against anybody with any political background joining Reform UK.

"There are some fantastic Conservative MPs and former Conservative MPs who could be, let's say, ideologically aligned with Reform."

O'Neill said the social media post was "born of frustration" and he had decided to take it down because the party conference was under way and he did not want it to look as though he was "attention seeking".

But he said he stood by what he said.