‘We can all make soundbites from the sidelines!’ Spalding South’s Gary Taylor reflects on ‘sweet’ county council re-election, but issues warning to new Reform rulers

South Holland’s only remaining Conservative county councillor labelled his ballot box victory ‘sweet’ - but mourned the loss of many ‘passionate’ colleagues.

Gary Taylor was probably on a sunkissed foreign holiday the last time he woke up surrounded by a sea of turquoise.

But that was how the political map looked this morning as the whole eastern half of Lincolnshire - with the exception of the Spalding South division - had been taken by Reform UK, who now have control of Lincolnshire County Council.

But with power comes responsibility, something Coun Taylor - a representative used to being part of the Tory majority on both Lincolnshire county and South Holland district councils - says the new Yellowbelly ruling body will have to learn quickly.

“The new administration will be in place shortly. It’s a serious responsibility,” he said.

“We can all make soundbites from the sidelines and try to create issues. But this is no time to divide the community, it’s about uniting the community and it’s a serious responsibility.

“The new administration will now have to be held to account.

“The new administration runs the fire service, education, highways, social care. These are serious issues that affect residents and their families’ lives.

“When the Reform guys stop celebrating they’ve now got to pick up some serious responsibilities and take this very seriously. There’s a lot of learning my new colleagues need to do, and very quickly.”

Despite his warning, Coun Taylor says his main focus is on ensuring the best for the peopl ehe represents, as well as residents across the county.

He continued: “Many new issues have been brought to my attention by local people during the campaign and I will be their voice in the county chamber and fight to resolve issues they’ve brought to my attention.

“That is what I’ll do. That’s my style.

“It’s a new experience for me to be in opposition but that’s democracy.

“We’ll ask questions of the new administration. If they’re promising things I support I won’t be there to score party political points, but if they are failing to deliver or finding it a challenge then the spotlight will be on them.”

Coun Taylor believes retaining his seat against this tide of political change boiled down to hard work from him and his team - and listening to the issues that mattered.

“It’s a sweet victory as we ran a very positive campaign,” said Coun Taylor, who was speaking to LincsOnline after just a single hour’s sleep following last night’s count.

“We focussed on local issued that mattered to people.

“Friends and family have supported me and we’ve been very serious about this. I’ve taken time off work and it’s also been a very serious part of their lives since they fired the starting gun of the campaign.

“For that it’s a sweet victory, but also bittersweet based on losing so many friends and colleagues across the county.

“It’s exremely disappointing and a bitter blow for many colleagues with years of experience who are committed and passionate about their work, and about Lincolnshire.

“We need to deal with that and learn lessons.”

Reform may be in control of the Newland chamber, but for how long remains unclear as changes brought about by devolution mean Lincolnshire County Council may no longer exist within the next four-year cycle.

“It’s uncertain and there’s still more questions than answers,” Coun Taylor said.

“We don’t have dates and a timeline, it’s a period of uncertainty.

“We have a new mayor a new controlling group, it’s a different environment and we have to try to deal with uncertainty the best we can.”