Tory MP admits 'difficult time' after Reform gains

Sarah Bool was elected last year as the Conservative MP for South Northamptonshire

A Conservative MP said it was a "difficult time" for the party after it lost control of two councils to Reform UK in the local elections.

North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire councils - both unitary local authorities - have shifted in power as Nigel Farage's party made an electoral breakthrough nationally, gaining 677 seats.

West Northants was one of the last counts of the day to be declared in the country, and was attended by South Northamptonshire MP Sarah Bool.

"It is hard, but I am confident that we can rebuild," she said.

"People wanted to have a change, so they voted Labour [in the general election] and now they're getting buyer's remorse on that," she added.

"They don't quite know that they can reward us yet."

Bool said she was disappointed by the county's results in the local elections and believed people had felt "a bit lost" about how to vote.

Reform UK's Thomas Manning said he was "excited" to improve things after gaining a seat in Northampton's Talavera ward

In North Northamptonshire, Reform UK now has 39 councillors, with the Tories having lost 37 seats to be left with 13. The Greens increased their presence by five seats to a total of eight, while Labour now has four councillors.

While in West Northamptonshire, Reform UK were voted into 42 seats as the number of Tory councillors fell by 35 to 17.

Labour saw its number of seats cut in half, to be left with nine, and the Lib Dems now have six councillors after picking up two more seats.

The Conservatives had been in control of Northamptonshire's local authorities for 20 years.

The Tories had headed the former county council since 2005 and led both unitaries since their formation in 2021.

"I'm very disappointed because we've lost some fantastic candidates who had worked so hard over the last four years," said Bool.

"I had a lot of hopes of where they wanted to take the council.

"Northamptonshire has had its financial difficulties in past councils and they have been working really hard to turn that trend.

"But now, I just want to make sure that the people of Northamptonshire are looked after and there will be a lot of holding Reform to account."

Analysis by Andrew Sinclair, BBC East political editor

The Conservative Party across the country is in shock this weekend, but particularly in Northamptonshire.

The party, which has dominated the politics of this county for decades, had to face the humiliation of losing most of its parliamentary seats in last year's general election.

Now it has spectacularly lost control of its local government base to a party that is just a few years old and has never seriously contested local elections before.

Reform UK is taking votes from every party but particularly the Conservatives.

There has been a lively argument within the party for the last year or so about how to take on Reform - now that argument will intensify.

Some want to form an alliance with Nigel Farage, something he (and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch) have repeatedly ruled out.

Some say the Conservatives will need to come up with bolder policies, while others believe that, given time, the party will fall out with each other and implode.

But the worry for the Tories is that the public is turning to Reform not so much because of its policies, but because it is not a mainstream party.

How on Earth do they combat that?