Reform councillor in Cornwall leaves party

A Reform UK Cornwall councillor has left the party, just a month after two other councillors.

Jamie Hanlon, who was elected last May to represent the Penwithick and Boscoppa division in the St Austell area, will now sit on the council as a Stand Alone Independent.

His resignation follows the departure of Susanne Desmonde and the group's deputy leader Roger Tarrant in April.

The Liberal Democrat MP for North Cornwall Ben Maguire said the latest change showed Reform UK in Cornwall was in "chaos yet again".

Hanlon's resignation means the Reform UK group, which was elected with 28 members in May 2025 is now down to 21, a loss of a quarter of its elected councillors, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Hanlon and the group's leader Paul Ashton have been approached for comment.

Reform's national media spokesperson has also been asked for the party's reaction.

Maguire said: "Since the 2025 elections they have now lost a staggering seven of their elected councillors, with a constant stream of resignations, defections and infighting.

"It is becoming increasingly clear that Reform cannot function as a coherent group on Cornwall Council."

Martyn Alvey, deputy leader of the Conservatives on Cornwall Council, said the council seemed to be revisiting committee seat allocations at "almost every full council meeting".

"Slightly tongue in cheek, if this continues at the current rate, the Conservatives could become the formal opposition before the council is re-elected in 2029," he said.

Desmonde, who represents Pool and Tehidy, resigned from Reform last month to become an Independent Non-Aligned councillor.

It came a day after Tarrant announced he had left the party to become Cornwall Council's first Restore Britain member.

These latest developments come after five Reform councillors quit the group in October 2025, citing interference from the national party.

That split saw the then-leader and deputy leader of the Reform group, Rob Parsonage and Rowland O'Connor, resign to form the new Cornish Independent Non-aligned Group.

Parsonage has since defected again, this time to the Tories.

Others who left Reform were Christine Parsonage, Karen Knight and Anna Thomason-Kenyon. Parsonage later resigned from the council.

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