I am delighted to report that Reform UK now have two Councillors in the Havant Constituency: Cllr Vicky Rhodes who was elected first and Cllr Sharon Collings who was elected second and who unseated the Conservative Leader of the Havant Council.
Cllr Vicky Rhodes was elected first for Leigh Park Hermitage, and who regretfully was unable to attend the count for personal reasons.
Cllr Sharon Collings was elected for Leigh Park Central and West Leigh after a recount in which Alex Rennie was counted ten votes behind Sharon, and I do not believe that the recount yielded a different result.
Our other candidates Dave Etherington in St Faiths, John Davis in Emsworth, and Mark Collins in Bedhampton were not elected.
This result was the consequence of hard work by our Havant Reform UK activists who walked hundreds of miles delivering flyers, talking to the residents and understanding the issues of residents. Both Vicky and Sharon are delighted to be able to serve our Havant community.
The Havant Borough Local Election was all-out and all-in because of boundary changes affecting every ward and with residents needing to vote in different polling stations to what the were used to.
Please see Cllr Sharon Collings acceptance speech video.
Our team had been canvassing the constituency with our 2024 General Election flyers while at the same time understanding the feelings of the residents who were dismayed at what the damage the Conservatives were doing to not just the country but to the Havant Constituency also. Our local election candidates and myself are determined to do what is sensible and right.
The count was interesting as three vacancies were available in each ward, and Havant Borough Council had devised an ingenious scheme to quickly and accurately count the votes to declare the result promptly.
Our success was as a result of our great and ever growing team of activists across the whole constituency who have provided input to our team, delivered thousands of letters and flyers that represent the policies and principles of Reform UK which people associate with.
Thank you everyone for your contributions that have led to Havant Borough Council being under no overall control but this will benefit our residents as they all now have a councillor who will represent them, whichever party they support.