New Reform leader appointed following racism row

A new leader for the Reform UK group controlling Staffordshire County Council has been appointed.

Chris Large will replace Ian Cooper who was suspended by the party before he stood down under a cloud of racism allegations linked to his social media accounts.

Large was himself scrutinised over social media use last month when he denied writing or endorsing racist comments on TikTok.

Martin Murray remains acting leader of the local authority until a new leader is formally elected by members next month.

Large represents the Brewood Division in South Staffordshire and currently serves as the council's cabinet member for Finance and Resources.

One of the 49 newly-elected Reform UK councillors in Staffordshire last May, Large stepped into politics after a 30-year career in the finance and banking industry.

He said that since being in office, he had drawn on his corporate experience to "drive greater efficiency and value for money".

He stated: "I have identified millions of pounds in savings by cutting waste, including implementing a freeze on non-essential staff recruitment.

"I have worked to help balance this year's budget, deliver a below-average council tax, and ensure vital funding for children and families, while commissioning a further nine efficiency reviews to maximise the value of residents' hard-earned taxes."

He added he was looking forward to continuing this work in his leadership role.

For the leader of the opposition Conservative group on the council, Large's appointment is "concerning".

Philip White said: "Staffordshire needs to move on from the racism scandal which brought down Reform's last leader of Staffordshire County Council.

"That makes their choice of Chris Large concerning as his social media was also found to contain multiple racist comments in his name."

In December, Large said he had not made the comments on a TikTok account bearing the name "cllrchrislarge", which featured numerous videos of him discussing politics.

He claimed the account was shared among a number of people, and he fully condemned the content of the remarks.

The leadership election is due to take place at the next full Staffordshire County Council meeting on 12 February.

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