Reform selects new Essex County Council leader

Peter Harris has been chosen to lead Essex County Council at a meeting of newly elected Reform UK councillors.

The party's 52 councillors met on Monday to vote on who should become leader of the authority, which oversees a budget of £1.3bn.

Harris, a businessman who was Nigel Farage MP's general election agent in Clacton, was elected on Thursday as county councillor for Clacton North.

"I am honoured to have been chosen by my group colleagues," he said. "We have an incredibly strong mandate - we must move quickly to bring about the changes and improvements [voters] are desperate for."

Harris is also deputy leader of the Reform opposition group on Tendring District Council, and the party's Greater Essex mayoral candidate for when local government reorganisation brings that office into being.

During the local election campaign, Farage said he would "fight against" council reorganisation in Essex and added that "nobody here has asked for Essex to have a mayor".

Russell Quirk was elected deputy leader.

Quirk was elected to represent Brentwood Hutton. He works in property public relations.

Both men are former Conservative councillors. Harris was elected as a Conservative for Tendring District Council in 2023.

Quirk, who was re-elected to Brentwood Council in a by-election in 2025, was a Conservative on the same authority a decade earlier.

"We have already begun work to appoint a cabinet full of strong, passionate people to lead, challenge and bring about positive change in their areas of responsibility," said Quirk.

"I am excited at the prospect of working with them to deliver our agenda."

Reform will now select a new cabinet for the county council, with councillors chosen to oversee services including adult social care, children's services and highways.

The first full council meeting takes place on 28 May.

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