'Every party has leadership change - do residents care?' Reform council's third boss in a year on criticism

Staffordshire County Council’s new acting leader – the third to head up the authority within a year – has said residents are more concerned about whether services are being delivered.

Hayley Coles also highlighted leadership changes that have taken place in other political parties in recent years, in response to critical comments made this week following the announcement that Reform UK colleague Martin Murray was stepping down from the top job.

Labour MPs in Staffordshire have described the latest leadership change as “Reform’s chaos”.

In a joint statement Leigh Ingham (Stafford), Jacob Collier (Burton and Uttoxeter), Dave Robertson (Lichfield), Adam Jogee (Newcastle-under-Lyme), Josh Newbury (Cannock Chase) and Sarah Edwards (Tamworth) said: “Reform’s leadership shambles and a succession of serious racism scandals are an embarrassment to our proud county.

“Their vetting has failed Staffordshire, and while they tie themselves in knots, residents are left wondering who is actually in charge.

“Staffordshire needs a council focused on fixing the roads, the crisis in SEND [special educational needs and disabilities] and buses that don’t turn up – not more Reform chaos and months of uncertainty. The council’s motto is ‘The knot unites’, but Reform’s record has been one of chaos and division. They need to stop letting Staffordshire down and get on with the job.”

Staffordshire County Council’s Conservative leader of the opposition said: “I wish Martin Murray well for the future. But it is deeply concerning that Staffordshire County Council – one of the largest local authorities in the country - is now onto its fourth Reform UK leader in a year and a half.”

Councillor Coles said: “Let’s be realistic – are residents really concerned or care that much? They care about if the council is delivering and are they getting a service.

“Every party has leadership change, even the Conservatives at Staffordshire County Council in 2020. We change and grow.”

On Tuesday (October 30) it was revealed that Councillor Coles, who has previously been deputy leader, had been selected as Reform UK’s new group leader, becoming acting leader for the county council. Sean Bagguley, cabinet member for finance and resources, has become acting deputy leader and the roles are set to be confirmed at a full council meeting on December 10.

Councillor Murray was leader for less than a year, succeeding Councillor Ian Cooper who was selected to head up the administration following the May 2025 elections. Councillor Cooper was kicked out of the party at the end of 2025 after failing to disclose a social media account and facing allegations over racist social media posts.

Chris Large had been due to become the council’s new leader in early 2026, but stood down just days after the announcement was made, due to a family bereavement. He had previously hit the headlines following allegations that a TikTok account bearing his name made or endorsed racist comments; he said that he had not been personally responsible for the activity, which he condemned, and that a large number of people had access to the account.

In dealing with allegations against elected members, Councillor Coles told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that an approach of “innocent until proven guilty” needed to be taken. She added: “I do not abide by any racism or discrimination.

“If it comes to my attention I will deal with it. There is a proper policy as well.

“Let’s not be quick to label people until we have the evidence or context. Reform is about free speech, common sense and personal responsibility.

“We live in the real world. Most residents are worried about crime and roads and they aren’t spending their days looking at social media posts.”

Councillor Coles said safer communities, cutting bureaucracy and protecting democracy were her top priorities going forward. The latter comes after county councils were required to change their constitution to reflect national changes to how planning application decisions are made – a move that has sparked concern that local democracy is being eroded.

From today a new mandatory national scheme of planning delegations puts tighter requirements on the type of planning applications that can be called in for consideration by councillors. Many elected members have spoken out against the change, which they fear will strip local people of their voice.

Uncertainty also continues around the future of local government reorganisation. The county council, Staffordshire’s eight borough and district authorities and Stoke-on-Trent City Council were due to be replaced by two large unitary authorities in 2028, but the process was paused by the Government in September – and this week it was announced that the proposals had been withdrawn.

A fresh decision on local government reorganisation is set to be made by early next year. But the process to develop new council plans has already cost more than £1.1 million in Staffordshire, Councillor Coles said.

She added: “Residents are rightfully saying ‘what’s that about?’ Nobody voted for that.

“We will fight for the best outcome for Staffordshire residents. The Government have mentioned £900,000 to cover the costs.

Devolution, to some extent is better news [the Government announced this week that Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire will be getting a new mayoral strategic authority]. If we’re going to do it, that’s the right way to do it.”

“My ambitions include making the council more lean and efficient”

Council funding also remains an ongoing challenge for the authority. The latest financial report, presented to the cabinet this month, revealed that by the end of September the authority had a forecast overspend of £8.896m.

Councillor Coles said: “Local government has always had financial pressures. In children’s services and adult social care, the pressure is increasing.

“We have more and more children needing SEND support and more people getting to older age. It’s right we look after them, but it is a really significant budget challenge.

“There needs to be wider societal change and this requires national leadership. We don’t believe the current funding levels are going to make a difference.”

Councillor Coles highlighted how her background in business could help the authority, including going through local government reorganisation.

“I have been through transformation and change – I can bring some of that to the table.

“My ambitions include making the council more lean and efficient. It’s about less bureaucracy and how we can make savings.

“The biggest thing is putting community safety at the heart of the council’s work. When I stood for election in May 2025 residents were saying they were worried about crime, anti-social behaviour and feeling safe.

“We hear all the time from residents. E-bikes are a big issue and in Tamworth a child was hit – that was really upsetting and I was shocked by it.

“In Stafford anti-social behaviour is going up and residents and businesses are saying they are worried. In Tutbury, a lovely village, they have had awful anti-social behaviour.”

“We have a community safety representative [cabinet member Anthony Screen] who is an ex-police officer; he is very passionate and he really cares. Trading standards has prevented more than £23m of consumer detriment, recovering illegal and unsafe products including over £250,000 worth of illegal vapes.”