Second Reform councillor quits party

A second Reform UK councillor in Wakefield has quit less than two months after the party gained control of the authority.

Steve Lewis was elected on 7 May when Reform UK won 58 of the 63 seats on the authority, which had been run by Labour since the council was formed in 1974.

A spokesperson said the council had been told that despite his resignation from the party he would continue to serve as an independent member for the Normanton ward.

His resignation follows Rhys Carr who quit as a Reform UK councillor two weeks ago to represent Ackworth, North Elmsall and Upton war as an independent.

Lewis was elected to serve a two-year term after receiving the second highest number of votes in Normanton.

Labour was left with just once councillor on Wakefield Council after Reform UK won 58 out of 63 seats in the 7 May election.

When Carr quit, he posted on social media that Reform UK was "no longer the right fit for me".

He added: "It has become clear that local issues are not prioritised, and that is simply not what I stood for when I was elected."

In response, the Reform UK Wakefield said Carr decided to leave the party before the outcome of an ongoing internal investigation into allegations around his conduct.

Last week Wakefield Council voted to rescind its climate emergency declaration from May 2019.

The authority had said it wanted to become carbon neutral by 2030, but on Wednesday new council leader Karl Johnson tabled a motion to axe the declaration.