Reform UK choose next Lancashire County Council leader - and he has a message on asylum hotels and budget cuts

The former Ribble Valley Borough Council leader – who was a Conservative until just two months ago, when he defected to Nigel Farage’s party – said that his new administration would “really…make a difference” to Lancashire.

Reform surged to victory in Lancashire at the local elections earlier this month, ousting the Conservatives after eight years in charge.

Speaking to reporters on the steps of County Hall – just moments after being unanimously voted in by the 53-strong group of newly-elected Reform county councillors – County Cllr Atkinson acknowledged the limitations of his control over some of the national policies on which Reform campaigned in the local poll, including on immigration and asylum.

However, he said he would be telling the Home Office that the people of Lancashire “did not vote for asylum seekers to come here”.

“I think Zia [Yusuf, Reform UK party chair] has been really clear – we want to check the legal basis of these changes of use in hotels and some accommodation [to house asylum seekers] to see if it is being done legally,” County Cllr Atkinson said, while noting that housing is the responsibility of district councils in ‘two-tier” areas like Lancashire.

He added: “We’ve got national policy…but we will be considered in our approach – we’ll not be reckless, but we have a clear focus to deliver on those issues.

“The British people are fed up – they’ve been put to the back of the queue for too long – and this is a chance to make a difference. And what will happen in 2029 [the expected year of the next general election] is Nigel Farage will make a much bigger difference.”

Asked what was top of his to-do list, County Cllr Atkinson – who is now officially leader elect of Lancashire County Council and will be confirmed in post at the authority’s annual general meeting on 22nd May – said the priority was to have a “deep dive into the budget”.

“We need to make sure that those savings to deliver a balanced budget are happening – and I’ve got the chief executive working on that as we speak,” he said.

The authority’s budget in February revealed the need to find just over £100m of savings in the next two years, around half of which have had to be carried over having not previously been achieved.

Quizzed on whether any Lancashire County Council employees should be fearful for their jobs after Nigel Farage suggested those working on diversity programmes or climate change initiatives at any of the 10 county councils Reform now controls should be “seeking alternative careers”, County Cllr Atkinson said:

“Staff know what our policies are – we will follow process, we will be respectful [and] we will be dignified, but we have an electoral mandate to deliver what we said we would do.

“And that’s what’s gone wrong in this country. – too many political parties have actually said they’re going to do something, got elected and then not done it.”

County Cllr Atkinson – who won one of the safest county council seats in Lancashire when he secured Ribble Valley South West at the local elections – said he was honoured to lead what he described as the “amazing” people who make up the new Reform UK group in Lancashire.

“We have a mission to deliver for the people of Lancashire, to work with the officers and to put people front and centre of all our decision-making.

“We think that Lancashire will become an exemplar council for the whole of the country – and the work starts today.”

Asked by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) whether he really wanted the job – given he could never have predicted he would end up with it when he announced his intention – prior to his defection – to stand down as Ribble Valley Borough Council leader after six years, County Cllr Atkinson said he sought the new role, “because I love my country.”

“This is the start of rebuilding Britain,” he declared.

County Cllr Simon Evans, member for Skelmersdale Central, was elected as Reform’s deputy leader in Lancashire.

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Born in Lancashire, 55-year-old County Cllr Atkinson is a self-trained engineer – he started his first business venture with his brother at the age of 21.

Together they now run a Lancashire-based educational furniture business as well as invest in commercial and industrial properties in the area.

Cllr Atkinson, who is married with two sons, and describes himself as a devoted family man, said in his spare time he has a great love for the outdoors, enjoying walking, skiing, motorcycling and sailing.