Think twice before voting Reform!

In the lead up to the local elections Reform UK have been in the news a lot over the views of their candiadates and spokesman

First their new housing spokesman, Simon Dudley was sacked after he made “shameful” comments about the Grenfell Tower fire, saying the deadly 2017 blaze was a "tragedy", but that "everyone dies in the end".

Then Reform's candidate for Mayor of Hampshire and Solent was suspended after describing Jewish people as "Islamists on horseback".

And in Wales Corey Edwards, stepped down a couple of days after being announced after a photo came to light of him  appearing to perform a Nazi salute 

These problems have hit the national headlines but they are symptomatic of a wider issue the party has with candidate selection

Here is a list of the councillors which Reform has shed from the May 2025 local elections and from those elections in by-elections since as of 2 April. They represent 0ne in 10 of those elected.

1. Donna Edmunds (Shropshire, suspended by Reform UK and then quit the party; later joined Advance UK)
2. Luke Shingler (Warwickshire, now an independent)
3. Desmond Clarke (Nottinghamshire, resigned as councillor)
4. Andrew Kilburn (Durham, resigned as a councillor)
5. Wayne Titley (Staffordshire, resigned as a councillor)
6. Mark Broadhurst (Doncaster, expelled by Reform)
7. Adam Smith (West Northamptonshire, suspended by Reform and then expelled)
8. John Bailey (Durham, resigned as a councillor)
9. Daniel Taylor (Kent, suspended by Reform UK and later sentenced to 12 months in prison)
10. Sam Booth (Doncaster, resigned as a councillor)
11. Ed Hill (Devon, expelled by Reform, later joined Advance UK)
12. David Maclean (Isle of Wight, resigned as a councillor)
13. Robert Bloom (North Northamptonshire, resigned as a councillor, later charged with harassment)
14. Paul Bean (Durham, suspended by Reform UK)
15. Amelia Randall (Kent, switched to Ukip, later founded her own party)
16. Gaynor Jean-Louis (Worcestershire, resigned as a councillor)
17. Angela Nash (Devon, became an independent, later joined Advance UK)
18. John Allen (Northumberland, suspended by Reform UK, later expelled)
19. Jack McGlenen (Durham, expelled by Reform UK)
20. David Knight (Doncaster, expelled from the Reform UK council group but whip then restored pending a further review)
21. Nicole Brooke (Northumberland, suspended by Reform UK, later expelled)
22. Patrick Lambert (Northumberland, suspended by Reform UK, later expelled)
23. Christopher Marriott (Doncaster, resigned from Reform to sit as an independent)
24. Rowland O’Connor (Cornwall, now an independent)
25. Robert Ford (Kent, suspended by Reform UK, later expelled and then joined Restore Britain)
26. Jack Bradley (Derbyshire, resigned as a councillor)
27. Des Watt (Cambridgeshire, first became a ‘non-aligned independent’ and then joined Advance UK)
28. Bill Barrett (Kent and Ashford, suspended by Reform UK, later expelled)
29. Oliver Bradshaw (Kent, suspended by Reform UK, later expelled and then joined Restore Britain)
30. Maxine Fothergill (Kent, suspended by Reform UK and then joined Restore Britain)
31. Paul Thomas (Kent, suspended by Reform UK, later expelled and then joined Restore Britain)
32. Karen Knight (Cornwall, now an independent)
33. Rob Parsonage (Cornwall, first became an independent and then joined the Conservatives)
34. Christine Parsonage (Cornwall, now an independent)
35. Anna Thomason-Kenyon (Cornwall, now an independent)
36. Brian Black (Kent, expelled by Reform UK and then joined Restore Britain)
37. Richard Morgan (Derbyshire, resigned as a councillor)
38. Isabella Kemp (Kent, suspended by Reform UK and then joined Restore Britain)
39. Nicola Brown (Doncaster, became an independent briefly and then joined Advance UK)
40. Ian Cooper (Staffordshire, was council leader but then expelled by Reform UK)
41. David Cumming (Durham, left for a job overseas)
42. Kathy Gibbon (Buckinghamshire, joined Conservatives)
43. Richard Litchfield (South Kesteven, elected in by-election in December, removed from Reform UK council group)
44. Edward Harris (Warwickshire, now an independent)
45. Caroline Gladwin (Isle of Wight, now an independent)
46. David Taylor (Worcestershire, now an independent)
47. Michael Ramage (Durham, now an independent)
48. Stuart Graham (Gloucestershire and Forest of Dean, now an independent)
49. Ian McKinley (Sunderland, elected in a by-election in November, now an independent)
50. Nick Brown (Durham, resigned as a councillor)
51. John Roddy (Warrington, elected in a by-election August, joined Conservatives)
52. Peter Colley (Hertfordshire, joined Restore Britain)
53. Dean Burns (Kent, departed his deputy cabinet role in November 2025 and then joined Restore Britain)
54. Darren Rance (North Northamptonshire, joined Restore Britain but now wants to rejoin Reform)
55. Jack Goncalvez (North Northamptonshire, joined Restore Britain)
56. Scott Cameron (Warwickshire, whip removed by Reform UK over claims thinking about defecting and then joined Restore Britain)
57. Luke Cooper (Warwickshire, whip removed by Reform UK over claims thinking about defecting and then joined Restore Britain)
58. Charles Whitford (Leicestershire, joined Restore Britain)
59. Andrew Thorp (Leicestershire, resigned as a councillor)
60. Chris Large (Staffordshire, was due to become council leader but resigned from his leadership roles and now an independent)
61. Kieran Mishchuk (Swale, joined Restore Britain)
62. Kathryn Shaw (West Northamptonshire, now an independent)
63. Joanne Blythe (West Northamptonshire, now an independent)
64. Graham Eardley (Walsall, suspended by Reform UK)
65. Tony Hill (Hertfordshire, resigned as a councillor)
66. Lynn Dean (Staffordshire and Newcastle-under-Lyme, suspended by Reform UK and then resigned as a councillor from one of them)
67. Andrew Barry (Merthyr Tydfil, now an independent)
68. Owain Clatworthy (Bridgend, left Reform alongside resigning as a Welsh Senedd candidate)
69. Dawn Saunders (Durham, now listed as independent on council website)

You can read more of the comings and goings at How many councillors has Reform UK lost since May?

Worth recalling as you make your choice of candidate on May 7th!