Labour lose control of city council as Reform votes surge...

[dutchman]

Reform had many moments to celebrate in Coventry as they won 20 seats



Labour has lost control of Coventry City Council as Reform UK mirrored its success elsewhere in the country, picking up 20 of the 54 seats contested.

The outcome capped a dramatic day across Warwickshire, with Reform building on its county council wins in 2025 with gains in Nuneaton and Bedworth, including the seat of council leader Steve Hey.

The county council's Reform leader George Finch also won a borough seat in Nuneaton and Bedworth, calling successes there a "political earthquake".

In Rugby, the Conservatives were the largest party but face a challenge to form an administration from Labour and the Liberal Democrats, who have more combined seats. Reform won three seats.

All 54 seats were contested this May in Coventry and Labour's national woes continued as they ended up with 24 seats, losing 17 and their majority as voters turned to Reform as well as the Greens, which picked up two more seats to end up with four.

Among Labour's losses was a high profile one as Jim O'Boyle, who had been the council's cabinet member for jobs, regeneration and climate change, lost his seat by just nine votes.

The Tories also suffered, losing five seats, including that of group leader Gary Ridley, ending with a total of six.

Discussions between the parties will now begin in the coming days and weeks to decide how the authority is run and who leads it.

The Green group leader, Esther Reeves, has already heavily hinted the party will not join forces with Reform. Labour sources are confident they can strike a deal with the Greens.

Labour's George Duggins, who held his seat by only 89 votes, said he would consider his future as leader of the council's Labour group over the weekend.

He said the results in Coventry were a message for both Labour nationally and locally.

"We need to know how a government not two years in can see the kind of catastrophic results that have happened this afternoon," he added.

He refused to comment when asked if Sir Keir Starmer should remain as prime minister.

Elsewhere in the county, of the 19 seats contested in Nuneaton and Bedworth, there were 15 wins for Reform, two for the Greens and two for Labour.

On top of George Finch's success for Reform in Bede, his father, Stuart, won in Stockingford East.

"The British people are making themselves heard loudly and proudly," the younger Finch said on X.

The party did not get overall control of the council, however, despite ending up the biggest party in the borough.

In Rugby, there were three gains for Reform but the Conservatives remain the largest party, with 15 councillors, while Labour and Lib Dems - which previously ruled together - have more seats combined, with 12 each.

Lib Dem group leader Jerry Roodhouse said it was "a good result" for his party in the borough.

"We're standing up for Rugby because Rugby deserves councillors that are working in the communities," he added.

The town's Labour MP, John Slinger, was at the count and said Labour's three losses in Rugby added to a "disappointing day" across the country for his party.

"You have to reflect, dust yourselves down and then get on with the really important job of delivering for people, and that's on a national level and also at the local level," he said.

[dutchman]

Could there be a coalition at Coventry City Council?



After Coventry's City Council election results, no party has overall control, meaning coalition talks are highly likely.

The people of Coventry have voted for change in the local elections yesterday, with the make up of the city council completely changed.

Whilst Labour are still the biggest party, they no longer have the majority. The Conservatives are now the third party, instead of the second. Reform UK made huge gains.

Since 2010, Coventry City Council has been run Labour, with the previous election giving them 39 seats out of a possible 54. This strong majority made it easy for them to pass their policy.

However, last night's results have reduced their power significantly. Whilst they are still the biggest party, they only have 24 seats. This is four short of a majority.

These are the final results:

Labour - 24 seats

Reform UK - 20 seats

Conservatives - 6 seats

Greens - 4 seats

The numbers make it highly likely that coalition talks will take place this weekend and next week between Labour and The Green Party. If they agreed to work together then they would have the 28 seats needed to make up a majority.

Regardless of whether or not they do they, the strong vote for Reform makes it clear that they have large support in the city. With a third of Councillors up for election in just a year's time, and the vote between Reform and Labour so close, things could change again in 2027.

[dutchman]

It's the same party isn't it, "Labour", "Green", "Hamas"?

Somebody prove me wrong?

[dutchman]

Coventry City Council leader holds on to role



Coventry City Council's Labour leader looks set to hold on to his position after an unsuccessful leadership challenge.

George Duggins, who took over as council leader in 2016, was re-elected as head of Coventry's Labour Group at a private group meeting on Tuesday evening.

Labour remains the biggest group on the council following the recent local elections. Duggins is on course to be reinstated as leader when the authority meets on May 21.

Despite Labour being the largest group, with 24 seats, no party has overall control at the city council. Reform has 20 seats, the Conservatives six and the Greens four.

Duggins had faced a challenge for the leadership from his deputy leader, Abdul Khan, but Khan was blocked from standing on Monday by national party figures due to a historic rebuke from a legal regulator.

Khan had served as Duggins' deputy but will now move to the back benches after the unsuccessful leadership challenge.

Lynnette Kelly will move into the role of deputy leader. Kelly has served as a councillor on and off since 2004 and stood as the Labour candidate in the 2015 General Election where she missed out on the Warwick and Leamington seat.

There had been a feeling among local Labour figures that Duggins would choose to stand down following the election performance, where Labour lost 17 seats, and 10 years in charge.

But he surprised some colleagues by announcing his decision to stand again.

Duggins came third in his Longford seat, which means he only has a year-long term before he is up for re-election.

Some Labour sources have told the BBC they are concerned about the uncertainty that creates, while others said they felt a change of direction was needed after losing control of the council.

But Duggins seems to have won over the doubters and the longest serving leader in Coventry City Council's history will now remain in post until at least 2027.

[dutchman]

Labour says 'no coalitions' on Coventry City Council but 'deal' made with another party



The Labour group on Coventry City Council has confirmed there are no coalitions with other parties as it moves forward with forming a minority administration.

It has made a deal with the Green Party – though not any sort of formal alliance that would give it a majority of 28.

Labour ended up with 24 seats but is still the largest party on the council, while Reform has 20, Conservatives six and Greens four. It was widely speculated that Labour and the Green Party could join forces to create a majority.

Coventry Green Party leader Esther Reeves said talks were taking place with other parties, but added that it had rejected the idea of an alliance with Reform UK.

Council Leader George Duggins, who heads the authority's Labour group, says his party's intention is to form a minority administration but revealed there have been talks with the Green Party to reach "an arrangement."

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "There's no coalitions, there is an arrangement with the Greens, and the arrangement is that they will be allocated a couple of Scrutiny Boards to chair."

We asked what this would mean for voting on council decisions. Will these now be considered entirely separately by each party without any prior agreement to align on crucial policy issues?

Mr Duggins responded: "I will be meeting with the Greens leader on a regular basis.

"And I would think that for most of the votes we have on our business, which will be for the benefit of Coventry, there should be no problems in respect to that. Of course, there will be differences in respect to debates. The parties will put forward their own debates and obviously they'll try to get a majority for what they put forward.

"But in respect to the transaction of the work that we need to do for the city, I don't anticipate there being any great problems."

The new Conservative leader, John Blundell, had already confirmed the party would stay independent and not align itself with any other political group.

Vote Green, get Labour!