Northumberland County Council's election results are 'truly seismic'
Last updated 2nd May 2025
Berwick councillor Georgina Hill is describing Northumberland County Council's latest election results as "truly seismic".
She's been reflecting on the success of Reform, who went from no seats to 23 to become the second largest party on the local authority behind the Conservatives, who lost 10 on the night but still have 26.
The Independent candidate was returned along with North Northumberland colleagues Isabel Hunter (Liberal Democrat, Berwick West with Ord); Guy Renner-Thompson (Conservative, Bamburgh); and Mark Mather (Conservative, Wooler).
But Conservative councillors Catherine Seymour and Colin Hardy lost their seats to Reform's Nicole Brooke (Berwick North) and Patrick Lambert (Norham and Islandshires), respectively.
Labour were the biggest losers locally, dropping 12 seats - leaving them with eight.
Councillor Hill (Berwick East) told Greatest Hits Radio: "The reality is there is huge anger in the country about the failure of successive governments, and the current Labour government have been really badly hit by this backlash.
"In terms of where we go now, obviously it's an inherently unstable council now with no party close to the number (of seats needed) to take overall control.
"And what we're going to have to do - the Independent group and others - are is think what is in the interests of Northumberland; what kind of loose deal arrangement can we do?"
But she added: "It's important to remember the Conservatives still have the largest party and probably fair to speak to them first, because they have that democratic mandate of still being the largest party, despite Reform's runaway success."
Former Berwick MP and Cabinet Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan also failed in her bid to get back into politics - after losing out to Scott Dickinson, Leader of Northumberland Labour Group, in the contest for Druridge Bay.
But Borders Conservative MP John Lamont - who was out campaigning in Berwick yesterday - says the election results in Northumberland are "a bit more encouraging compared to what's happening elsewhere in the country".
He said: "This was always going to be a very difficult election for the Conservative Party, given the last time these seats were contested we were having the Covid vaccine bounce and Boris Johnson was very, very popular.
"So we'll see what happens next in terms of who forms the administration."
Northumberland County Council is made up of 69 seats. The results are as follows: Conservative - 26; Reform UK - 23; Labour - 8; Independent - 7; Liberal Democrat - 3; Green - 2.
For more stories from the Scottish Borders and North Northumberland, bookmark our new home page - https://hellorayo.co.uk/greatest-hits/borders/news/