County council leader quits following leaked comments to party colleagues
The leader of Leicestershire County Council has this afternoon (Monday) quit the role after leading the Reform UK minority administration for 18 months.
It comes after comments Councillor Dan Harrison made about staff redundancies at the authority were leaked online.
He initially apologised for the comments, which were made at a Reform UK meeting last week, although he said they were taken out of context.
But after consulting senior party colleagues, Councillor Harrison released a statement saying he had tendered his resignation to County Hall chief executive, Jane Moore.
He said in the statement: “It has been the honour of my life to lead the first Reform UK administration at County Hall following the county council elections in May 2025.
“Since then, the council has made many great achievements - the lowest increase in Council Tax precept in over a decade, millions of pounds of debt repaid, putting the council’s finances on a firmer footing.
"We also initiated the pioneering Efficiency Review, which will identify further areas where savings can be achieved, and services enhanced and improved in the future.”
Councillor Harrison added: “Before the council meets to elect a new leader, I will be handing over to my deputy, Kevin Crook, who will become Acting Leader of the Council and Chairman of Cabinet.
“I will continue to serve this council to the very best of my ability and would like to place on record my grateful thanks to everyone at the council during my time as leader.”
The leaked remarks, which were recorded, reportedly had Councillor Harrison saying that 76 council solicitors would lose their jobs because they were ‘incompetent’.
The recording also revealed he told the private meeting: "What I want to look at now is the women so it is ongoing, I would like it to be at great pace but I can tell you now if we suddenly drove massive redundancies the liberals would walk away."
The Conservative group, which forms the opposition at the county council had earlier in the day called on the leader to resign before he did finally step down.
All 15 Tory members signed a letter calling for an Extraordinary Council Meeting to be convened to discuss the removal of Councillor Harrison from the post.