Rosemary Trollope-Bellew switches from Tory to Reform UK on South Kesteven District Council
A ‘disillusioned’ councillor who has been a Conservative and an unaligned independent is joining the right-wing party Reform UK.
Rosemary Trollope-Bellew was elected to represent Casewick ward on South Kesteven District Council as a Conservative in 2023.
But only months later she quit the Tories to be an unaligned Independent, still representing voters in an area that includes Uffington, Barholm, Tallington, Baston and Langtoft.
In a letter to LincsOnline, the councillor said: “Nearly two years ago, I was elected as a Conservative councillor, but even before the 2023 district elections, I found myself increasingly disillusioned with the National Party.
“I agreed to stand alongside my dear friend Kelham Cooke, but for the past eighteen months, I have represented the Casewick Ward as an unaligned Independent.
“However, with Lincolnshire on the cusp of its most significant local government reforms in 50 years, I believe I can be more effective by aligning with a political party once again.
“After careful consideration, I have chosen to join Reform UK - a party I feel better reflects my conservative values than the one I left.”
She says the ‘decline of the NHS’, flooding caused by a ‘lack of waterway maintenance’, as well as farming suffering because of green strategies, and a failure to resolve illegal immigration have pushed her away from the Conservative Party and towards Reform UK.
She concludes: “This was not a decision I made lightly, but I am confident it is the right one for me and the people I serve in Casewick ward.”
At the 2023 district council election, Coun Vanessa Smith for the Green Party received 1,057 votes, Coun Trollope-Bellew stood as a Conservative and received 709 votes, and Kelham Cooke also stood as a Conservative and received 688 votes. He was therefore not elected to the two-seat ward. The electorate for the ward numbered about 4,500 at the time.
Reform UK is the former Brexit Party and has five MPs - Nigel Farage for Clacton in Essex, Richard Tice for Boston and Skegness, Rupert Lowe for Great Yarmouth, Lee Anderson for Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, and James McMurdock for South Basildon and East Thurrock in Essex.
No councillor standing for the party has been elected to South Kesteven District Council.
The current party break-down of the district council is 22 Conservatives, 8 Democratic Independents, 8 Grantham Independents, 5 Independent Group, 4 Liberal Democrats, 3 South Kesteven Independent Group, 2 Green Party, 2 Labour and Co-operative, 1 unaligned Independent, 1 Reform UK.
