Who really put Reform in control of North East Lincolnshire Council?

Reform may now lead North East Lincolnshire Council, but it did not win enough seats to take control on its own.

May’s elections left the Council with no overall control. That meant what happened next depended on the choices made by the other political groups.

The Liberal Democrats believed that should have started with everyone around the same table.

We contacted every group leader and proposed all-party discussions involving every political group, with the aim of finding a stable way forward and putting the interests of North East Lincolnshire ahead of party politics.

That opportunity was not taken.

By the time councillors met at the AGM to decide who would lead the Council, a very different picture emerged.

Labour (the second-largest group on the Council) spoke in favour of Reform being allowed to form the administration and then abstained rather than voting against Reform taking the leadership.

Independent councillors voted directly for Reform’s leader.

The result was that Reform took control of the Council despite having only 14 of its 42 councillors.

Then came the committee appointments.

Labour councillors and an Independent councillor went on to secure every paid Chair and Deputy Chair position across the Council’s scrutiny committees.

There was another revealing moment during the meeting when councillors learned that Reform had initially approached the Conservatives about a coalition, but the Conservatives had declined.

So when residents ask how a party with only a third of the seats ended up running North East Lincolnshire Council, the answer isn't simply that Reform won the election.

Other parties made choices that enabled it to happen.

The Liberal Democrats had proposed a different approach, with all-party discussions involving every group focused on finding a stable way forward for the borough. By the time the leadership vote took place, our three votes could not have changed the outcome. We therefore abstained in protest at a process that had allowed the opportunity for genuine all-party discussions to pass without ever being properly explored.

We will work constructively with Reform, Labour, Conservatives and Independents whenever that benefits residents, but we will also provide something essential in a council with no overall control, genuinely independent scrutiny of whoever holds power.

Residents deserve to know not only who runs their Council, but how they got there and who is genuinely holding them to account.