MP Lee Anderson's move a soap opera, says council boss

Lee Anderson has represented Ashfield since 2019

MP Lee Anderson's announcement he is switching political parties has been branded a "soap opera" by a council leader in his Ashfield constituency.

After losing the Conservative whip last month for refusing to apologise for claims Islamists had "control" of London Mayor Sadiq Khan, Mr Anderson announced a defection to Reform.

It gives his new party its first representation at Westminster.

But Ashfield District Council Leader Jason Zadrozny was unimpressed.

Mr Zadrozny, a member of Ashfield Independents at the Nottinghamshire authority, said: "Ashfield people do not want the continuing soap opera of Lee Anderson.

"We're always talking about Lee Anderson, not the things that really matter like doctors and dentists, the cost of living.

"Ashfield [District] Council takes real pride in pulling our communities up by their bootstrings and making it a better place to live.

"We're building a new theatre, we're building a new planetarium, we're spending money on new leisure facilities, we've got lots of really positive stuff to talk about and it's become the Lee Anderson show.

"We're doing our best to make a positive change to life for people here, the only life Lee Anderson is interested in changing is his own."

Mr Zadrozny has been leader of the authority since 2018

Deputy council leader Tom Hollis, another Independent who represents the Ashfield ward where Mr Anderson's parents live, said: "Having a Reform MP is going to be short-lived I think, until the next election is called.

"Ashfield is a very deprived place. People here care about putting food on the table, doing their jobs.

"Why isn't Anderson talking about these things?"

Mr Anderson was elected in 2019 to the Red Wall seat with a 5,700-vote majority - having previously served as a Labour councillor for his home town.

He said by joining Reform he had been given the chance to "speak out in Parliament on behalf of millions of people up and down the country".

Following his defection, several residents in Kirkby-in-Ashfield told the BBC they supported Lee Anderson as a politician no matter which party he was attached to.

One said: "He is good for the local community. He gets things shifted - he gets things done."

But Rhea Keehn, Labour's parliamentary candidate for Ashfield, said: "This is just more drama that is covering up an even bigger problem.

"We need a general election - not just for the people of Ashfield but for the whole of the UK."