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