New Reform UK Councillor to ‘lead the way’

There was delight for Reform UK as the party won two of the three Telford parish council seats up for grabs on Super Thursday.

Labour held on to the third of the seats – in Wellington’s Haygate ward – where the party did not face a Reform UK challenge but saw off the Conservatives, the Green Party and the Lib Dems.

Alan Adams, a former Navy submariner who finished in second place in Telford in last year’s general election, swept to victory in Oakengates Town Council’s Oakengates and Wombridge Ward.

Mr Adams, now a business coach, took the seat with 482 votes to Labour’s Janine Smart on 226.

Steve Reece finished in third with 169 votes standing as an ‘Oakengates Independent Resident’.

The Lib Dems finished on 27 votes while the Conservatives picked up 102.

Mr Adams said he will “lead the way” by feeding back to Reform UK members and letting them know what being a councillor entails.

Reform UK’s other win of the night came in the St Georges West ward of St Georges & Priorslee Parish Council.

Andrew Morris stormed to a similarly convincing win with 368 votes to Labour’s Daphne Smith’s 230.

Mr Morris was not at the count at Telford Tennis Centre. His colleagues said he was away at work.

Reform UK campaigner Mark Foden said: “Everybody is looking for change and disappointed with what’s on offer from Labour and the Conservatives.”

Mr Adams said: “We are the first two Reform UK candidates to get elected in Telford. We are hoping that this is the start of something big.”

Labour’s Hugh Sanders, the winner in Wellington’s Haygate ward, said he was “slightly flabbergasted” to win with 235 votes against Conservative Sharon King on 190 and Lib Dem Kerry Weston on 156. The Green Party’s candidate Pat McCarthy finished on 99 votes.

Mr Sanders, aged 70, added that it was his first attempt to become a councillor and is looking forward to joining Wellington Town Council.

“It is a place that is growing in confidence,” he said.

He put his win down to his three-year-old lurcher called Brough.

“He is very good-looking,” said Mr Sanders.

The turnout for all three byelections topped 22 per cent, with Oakengates the highest at 23.07 per cent.

Conservative activists were pleased to have a slate of younger candidates standing for the party and are rebuilding for the future.

The best-placed Lib Dem out of three was Kerry Weston in Haygate who finished in third place with 156 votes.

Mrs Weston, 41, fighting her first election, joined the party only in May this year having been inspired by the success of the Liberal Democrats who won the local elections in Shropshire.

The Green Party’s best showing was Pat McCarthy’s 99 votes, also in Haygate.

Mark Webster, who polled 62 votes in the St Georges West Ward, said the night was “especially thrilling for our Green Party team to feel a small part of something so much bigger”.

He claimed that a “green wave is building across this country”.

“No matter the final numbers, we have already succeeded in changing the conversation. Let’s enjoy this moment, and let’s see it through.”