Tory London Assembly member defects to Reform UK

Keith Prince is now the second Reform UK London Assembly member

A Conservative member of the London Assembly has defected to Reform UK.

Keith Prince, who was a Tory party member for almost 50 years, served as leader of Redbridge Council in east London from 2009 to 2014, and is a councillor at Havering Council, also in east London.

He has been the assembly member for Havering and Redbridge since 2016.

Reform UK already has one member of the assembly which means the party, led by Nigel Farage, can form an official group on the body for the first time.

An official group on the assembly is entitled to an allocation of committee seats in line with how many Assembly Members (AMs) they have.

The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body that scrutinises the activities of the mayor of London.

After Mr Prince's defection, Labour has 11 AMs, the Conservatives seven, the the Greens three, the Liberal Democrats two and Reform UK two.

Mr Prince's defection comes ahead of the Conservative Party Conference which begins in Manchester on Sunday and follows Tory MP Danny Kruger's decision last month to switch to Reform UK.