REFORM TAKE OVER COUNTY COUNCIL – NO CHANGE IN WEARDALE
THE local elections throughout the country saw a massive rise in successful candidates from Nigel
Farage’s Reform UK party, including in Durham where they took control of the county.
In the Weardale constituency, however, despite being enlarged to include Tow Law and being
contested by no less than ten candidates, there was no change with Independents, Anita Savory and
John Shuttleworth being successful.
The last local elections were held in May 2021, which saw Labour lose control of the county
council for the first time in a century. Although 49 Labour candidates remained in office, they were
outnumbered by a coalition of other parties, including 28 Conservatives, 15 Liberal Democrats, four
Reform UK, eight Independents and seven others from various minor parties.
The result from this latest election, which saw a very poor turnout with Weardale having one of
the highest with 47%, the final result looked like this:
Reform – 65
Liberal Democrat – 14
Independent – 12
Labour – 4
Green – 2
Conservative – 1
The only Conservative left on the council is Cllr Richard Bell from Upper Teesdale with some big
names losing their seats, including the leader of the Labour Party, Carl Marshall. Others local to
Weardale, who were ousted in favour of Reform including Labour’s Olwyn Gunn in Willington and
Independent Anne Reed as well as Conservatives, Patricia Jopling and Mike Currah in Crook were
beaten by three Reform candidates.
The agent for Reform in the Wear Valley, former Conservative candidate for Crook, Ian Hirst, stood
for the Reform party in Upper Teesdale but was soundly beaten by Richard Bell. In Barnard Castle,
however, a former Liberal Democrat leader of Wear Valley District Council who fought the Labour
hold there and won in 1991 -Chris Foote-Wood- won in Teesdale, this time standing for Labour.
In Lower Teesdale, long-serving Conservative, George Richardson, lost his seat to Reform’s, Jillian
Campbell.
The final result in Weardale and Tow Law was as follows:
Anita Savory (Independent) – 1331
John Shuttleworth (Independent) – 1215
Paul Beattie (Reform UK) 1037
David Brown (Reform UK) 1031
Will Wearmouth (Conservative) 762
Richard Lawrie (Conservative) 490
Matthew James Ferguson (Green) 267
Gemma Holmes-Wood (Labour) 250
Sally Marshall (Labour) 233
Olivia Dunn (Liberal Democrat) 135
