Reform took two county council seats from the Conservatives in Hertfordshire last night, as the first election results were declared.
All 78 seats on Hertfordshire County Council are up for grabs in this year’s local elections – where Conservative, Liberal Democrats, Labour and Reform are standing in all seats.
While counting in the majority of the county’s seats will begin this morning (Friday), last night the six divisions in Broxbourne were declared. The Conservatives held on to four of those seats – in Cheshunt Central, Hoddesdon North, Hoddesdon South and Waltham Cross.
Reform’s Tony Hill took Flamstead End and Turnford, and Anthony Owen took Goffs Oak and Bury Green, which were also previously held by the Conservatives.
Serving Conservative county councillor Mark Mills-Bishop – who is also leader of Broxbourne Council – lost the Flamstead End and Turnford seat by just 28 votes.
Chairman of Reform in Broxbourne, Hamish Haddow, says the overnight results have been “phenomenal” – predicting further wins for the party in other areas of the county.
He says that following the wins in Broxbourne, the Conservatives will now have to consider that support for Reform in the county is “not just a protest vote”. He added that voters are feeling the pain of the past 14 years and wanting change locally.
He says that with seats on the county council, Reform will now have the opportunity to influence budgets and to highlight “erroneous decisions”.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service on Friday morning, Conservative leader of the county council, Richard Roberts, stressed that more than 90 per cent of the county council seats had yet to be counted.
He congratulated those Conservative candidates who had ‘hung on’ to the seats in Broxbourne. He said: “There’s a national sentiment that has been driven by Nigel Farage.
“And it has washed over our local elections from the north of the country to the south.
“Last night I was really please we hung on to four of the six county council candidates. And congratulations to those four. One we lost very narrowly.”
Until the election, all six divisions in Broxbourne had been held by Conservative councillors.
In the four seats that were retained by the Conservatives last night, the share of the vote was significantly decreased from the last all-out elections in 2021.
In the Cheshunt Central division, Conservative Paul Seeby polled 1,169 votes (equivalent to 38 per cent of the votes cast) to win the seat for the Conservatives.
That was just 162 votes more than were cast for second-placed Reform candidate Siobhan Monaghan, who is already a serving councillor on Broxbourne Council.
It was also 948 votes fewer than were cast for the Conservatives in the same division back in 2021. Serving Conservative councillor Dee Hart retained the Waltham Cross seat – and also saw her vote cut significantly.
In 2021, she polled 1,751 votes, equivalent to 46 per cent of the votes cast – with Labour in second place, polling 1,646 votes. Last night, she won the seat with just 939 votes – equivalent to 32 per cent of the votes cast.
Reform’s James Beatty was in second place in the Waltham Cross division with 843 votes – and Labour third with 691 votes.
In Hoddesdon North, Conservative Alexander Curtis won the seat with 1,460 votes – equivalent to 41 per cent of the votes cast. Reform candidate Giles Hall was in second place with 1,302 votes.
This division was previously held by Lewis Cocking MP, who back in 2021 had polled 2,324 votes for the Conservatives.
Cllr Steve Wortley – who is the existing councillor for the Cheshunt Central division – retained the Hoddesdon South seat for the Conservatives last night.
He took 1,669 votes in the election – equivalent to 44 per cent of the votes cast – but still 968 votes fewer than were cast for the Conservatives in the same division back in 2021.
Second place in the division last night was Reform candidate Adam Clayton, who polled 1,239 votes – equivalent to 33 per cent of the votes cast.
Reform’s Tony Hill took the Flamstead End and Turnford division after receiving 1,197 votes – equivalent to 38 per cent of the vote.
That was just 28 more than the 1,169 votes polled for Conservative Mark Mills-Bishop. In 2021, Cllr Mills-Bishop had been elected after polling 2,280 votes.
Mr Hill will be joined on the county council by fellow Reform candidate Anthony Owen, who took the seat in Goffs Oak and Bury Green.
Anthony Owen polled 1,472 votes in the Goffs Oak and Bury Green election, equivalent to 43 per cent of the votes cast.
Second-placed Conservative Corina Gander polled 1,178 votes in the division, equivalent to 34 per cent of the votes cast.
In the 2021 election, the Conservatives had won the seat with 2,352 votes, which was then equivalent to 64 per cent of the votes cast.
Deborah is a Local Democracy Reporter covering news across Hertfordshire, with a strong focus on councils, local government and public policy. Her reporting includes county council decisions, council tax, spending pressures, legal and regulatory issues, healthcare stories including junior doctors, and community projects affecting local residents.
