ALAN Amos has been elected as the new leader of Reform UK in Worcestershire.
County council leader Jo Monk was axed by members of her own party at Reform’s annual general meeting on Friday (April 17).
Cllr Monk is expected to remain as leader of Worcestershire County Council until the next scheduled full council meeting on May 14.
Cllr Amos now leads Reform, which runs the authority as a minority administration, but cannot take over as leader of the council until a vote involving all county councillors has taken place.
AXED: County council leader Jo Monk (Image: Worcestershire County Council)
He will need a majority of councillors to vote for him, but could lose out if enough opposition councillors can team up to form a coalition and elect their own leader.
There are currently 25 Reform, 12 Conservative, eight Green, seven Lib Dem, two Labour and three independent councillors on the council.
Cllr Amos said: “I’m very proud to have been elected as leader of the Worcestershire Reform UK Group and grateful to my colleagues for their support.
“I’m looking forward to working for local residents, both to get this council back on a sound financial footing and to fight the upcoming elections in Redditch.
“Can I be the first to thank Jo Monk for the hard work she’s done as leader of our group, taking the first steps to tackle the mess we inherited from the Conservatives and beginning to steady the ship.
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“I look forward to working together towards a better future for Worcestershire.”
Cllr Rob Wharton has been re-elected as the group’s deputy leader.
Reform said Cllr Monk has overseen a significant improvement in the timescale for acceptance of education, health and care plans (EHCPs) and a 20 percent increase in the number of mainstream foster carers, reversing a 40 percent drop in capacity over the previous five years.
But her administration also raised council tax by nine percent and needed £59.9m in emergency government help to deliver a balanced budget.
