“We are not Nigel Farage’s chattel” - Derbyshire councillor declares as he and nine Reform UK colleagues resign from the party

Cllr Phillip Rose, who had been Reform UK’s group leader on Derbyshire County Council, is among the 10 Derbyshire councillors who have resigned from the party over a dispute with leadership – primarily Nigel Farage.

There had been two Reform UK councillors on the county council, Cllr Rose and Cllr Alex Stevenson, who had both initially been elected as Conservatives, but their exits leave the authority without any Reform representation.

In total 10 Reform UK elected members resigned from their 15 positions within Derbyshire, all within Amber Valley, the Local Democracy Reporting Service has been told.

Mr Farage has said they were part of an “out of control branch” including people who had failed the vetting process.

Cllr Rose told the LDRS: “What Nigel means is we are out of his control. We are not Nigel’s chattels. We are independent people who want Reform to do well. We are not under his control.

“We work together, we are a team, we are well organised and we know how to win elections. I don’t like control.

“I am actually quite shocked. He should have done the right thing and said something like ‘we are sorry to see them go but thank you for what you have done for the party’.

“Instead he chooses to attack us publicly.

“We have not changed, we are the same people, but Reform has changed.

“There comes a point when you have to say ‘we stand together’ and that was it really.

“We still support the aims of Reform, including cementing our place outside of the EU and getting out of the European Convention on Human Rights and tackling the rape gangs.

“I don’t think Reform has developed as people think it has. It has a lot of members but it has not developed.

“It is is just a company owned by Nigel and Richard Tice and they can just decide that they don’t want you.

“Nigel has said that we have failed vetting but we have never been told that. We put ourselves forward for the upcoming county elections and paid our vetting fees and have not heard back.

“We feel like we are being ignored and that we are being silenced and they just want us out.”

He said the focus from Mr Farage was on recruiting Conservative councillors, but claimed many of these people did not support Reform policies.

Cllr Rose said Derbyshire’s former Reform councillors, who held positions on the county council, Heanor and Loscoe Town Council, Ironville Parish Council and Shipley Parish Council, would all now sit as independent councillors, before deciding on a “new direction”.

Cllr Rose was elected to the county council in 2021 as a Conservative for the Alfreton and Somercotes division and was suspended by the party over alleged anti-Semitic posts in 2022, before joining Reform UK.

Cllr Stevenson was elected as a Conservative for the Greater Heanor ward in 2021, was suspended by the party for allegedly defending anti-vaccination posts in 2023, before joining Reform UK.

Reform UK continues to have six councillors on Derby City Council.