It's all about the money... county council leader on the way ahead with Reform UK

LEICESTERSHIRE County Council has a new party in control after this month's elections, but other than a promise to take a hard look at spending, little is known about its policies.

- Our politics writer Hannah Richardson

spoke to Dan Harrison, the new Reform UK leader on Leicestershire County Council, ahead of his first full council meeting in charge to ask about his plans for some key service areas impacted?

Reform UK became the largest party on the authority, sweeping to victory from a standing start by securing 25 of the 55 seats available - just shy of the 28 needed to form a majority.

The Conservatives, who had led the council continuously for over two decades, became the main opposition, with 15 seats plummeting from 42 seats in 2021.

The rest of the seats are split between the Liberal Democrats (11), Labour (two), the Greens (one) and an independent (one), leaving the council subject to Reform forming a minority administration.

Despite its spectacular rise to power, little was known about Reform's intentions for Leicestershire ahead of the vote, with the group previously admitting to our sister paper the Leicester Mercury it did not have an official manifesto locally.

It did promise a deep dive into the council's finances to root out any wasteful spending, despite Leicestershire County Council under the Tories having long prided itself on being one of the most efficiently-run councils in the country.

To glean more information about its policies now it is in power, I asked leader Dan Harrison about some key areas. Here is what he said:

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