Reform UK in “Chaos Again” on Cornwall Council, Say Rivals After Tarrant Defection

Reform UK’s group on Cornwall Council is “descending into chaos for the second time in less than a year,” the Liberal Democrat MP for North Cornwall has warned, after Deputy Group Leader Roger Tarrant resigned from the party and defected to Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain.

Cllr Tarrant announced his resignation at the start of yesterday’s full council meeting at Lys Kernow, becoming Restore Britain’s first councillor in Cornwall and one of only around 20 nationwide. His departure leaves 21 Reform councillors sitting at County Hall, down from the 28 elected in May 2025.

It is the second major split in the group in under six months. Five Reform councillors quit in October 2025 citing interference from the national party, with the then-leader and deputy leader both resigning at the time.

What is Restore Britain?

Restore Britain is the new party founded by Great Yarmouth MP Rupert Lowe, who was elected for Reform UK in 2024 before being suspended in March 2025 following a bitter falling-out with Nigel Farage. It began life as a pressure group in June 2025 and was formally registered as a political party in March 2026. Lowe is currently its sole MP, and it has fewer than two dozen councillors across the country — making Cllr Tarrant’s defection a notable boost for the fledgling party in the South West.

“Reform just doesn’t care about Cornwall”

Ben Maguire MP said “serious questions” were now mounting over whether Reform UK is capable of functioning as a coherent council group at all.

“This is yet another deeply troubling development from Cornwall Council’s Reform group, that has been in near-constant chaos since the day they were elected,” he said. “Their councillors are finally realising what many of us already knew — Reform just doesn’t care about Cornwall.”

“Cornish residents need local champions who focus on the issues that actually matter to people here: things like housing, transport, and public services. Sadly, those represented by Reform councillors are only getting infighting, instability, and more evidence that the party cannot be trusted to work as a coherent group — let alone govern the Duchy.”

He added: “I would encourage every Reform councillor to put Cornwall — and the constituents who elected them last year — before the instructions of Nigel Farage.”

Conservatives: “A party unravelling in real time”

Cornwall Conservative Group Leader Cllr Connor Donnithorne also seized on the defection, positioning his own group as the credible opposition on the council.

“Another Reform Deputy Leader gone — and now forming a rival group. This is a party unravelling in real time,” he said. “Reform UK in Cornwall is fractured, divided, and no longer a serious opposition. Residents deserve better than chaos and infighting.”

“Reform are collapsing and only the Conservatives are delivering the stable and credible opposition that Cornwall needs and deserves.”

Reform hits back

Reform UK has rejected Cllr Tarrant’s account of events, with a party spokesperson telling local press that the defection followed an unsuccessful bid by Tarrant himself for the group leadership.

“Cllr Tarrant only recently asked the Cornwall Council group to make him leader. They chose someone else, and they were clearly right to do so,” the spokesperson said. “These are the actions of a disgruntled individual who betrayed his colleagues and his residents who elected a Reform UK councillor last May.”

Cllr Tarrant, however, has predicted further trouble ahead, suggesting a leadership challenge could come at the party’s AGM next month and that other Reform councillors are “wavering” over whether to follow him to Restore Britain.