The new leader of Reform UK in Cornwall has said the party in the county is not in crisis but going through a “blip”.
Cllr Paul Ashton was appointed the party’s Cornwall leader on 21 October but a week later saw five members leave over concerns about national and local priorities, to form a new Cornish Independent Non-Aligned Group.
Mr Ashton said the party had had a “bit of a reset, new leadership, new vision, new strategy and we’ve got a very positive outlook”, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Reform had been the largest political group on Cornwall Council but the departing five left the party with 23 councillors, which Mr Ashton said “did cause internal difficulty”.
The Liberal Democrats have 26 councillors, which places Reform as the biggest political opposition.
Mr Ashton said the party needed “to put that behind us and move forward in a positive way and our electorate demands that really.
“We’ve learned a lot from it – we’re a new party and we know this goes on all the time in other parties, so we’re not unusual in that respect except we’re disappointed because we’re trying to be different.
“It wasn’t a good look and we’d rather it didn’t happen” he added, “… but in terms of long-term damage I don’t think that is the case.”
