Spike in complaints against councillors revealed

New figures have revealed a spike in the number of complaints about some county councillors in Leicestershire.

The authority said 38 complaints had been made about members' conduct in the six months after 1 May, when Reform UK took control of the authority.

That compares to seven complaints in all of 2022/23 and five complaints in 2023/24.

The council's investigation process provides anonymity to the subject of complaints until a breach of the members' code of conduct has been proved, but a Freedom of Information response has shown 35 of the 38 recent complaints were lodged against Reform UK politicians.

Reform UK council leader Dan Harrison told the BBC some of the complaints were politically motivated and came from opposition councillors - particularly from Conservative members.

"They don't like the fact we beat them in the election and that we are getting things done, so they throw stones at us," Harrison said.

"So much of it is political."

However, Harrison, a former Tory councillor, added that some of his 24 members were still adapting to the rules that come with elected office.

"It's a new team," he said: "I'm the only one of us who has any experience [of being a councillor].

"They are learning every day. I know the number of complaints will start to come down."

Six of the 38 complaints did not reach the threshold to trigger further investigation, the council said, and the rest were "at an early stage in the process".

The figures show 18 of the complaints against Reform councillors came from members of the public, 10 from council staff and seven from other councillors.

Of the 38 complaints, 26 related to social media use.

Two of the 38 complaints were made by members of the public against Tory councillors and one by a staff member against a councillor from an undisclosed party.

Conservative opposition group council leader Deborah Taylor said: "All councillors get training in the code of conduct and social media use, but they [Reform] don't understand the rules apply to them.

"We've never had these levels of complaints and each one takes up time and money, because officers have to look into them all.

"Those resources could be much better used.

"What concerns me are the complaints from staff against their own administration.

"That's unheard of and I would be very concerned about that if I were the leader."

The council's labour group leader Jewel Miah said: "It's ineptitude. Reform have fallen foul of rules about being councillors that they don't understand.

"They just take things too far."

Liberal Democrat county councillor Sarah Hill, who has chaired some recent member conduct panel hearings, said: "There's a keyboard warrior element to some of it and people who do like to troll.

"But they also have bad blood with the Tories and that has led to complaints."

A county council spokesperson said: "Social media guidance is part of a range of advice and information given to new councillors.

"This also includes training on the code of conduct and a specific training session has also been held on using social media."

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