THE new leader of the Conservative group at Cornwall Council has responded to the disastrous election result last week which saw the party lose almost 40 seats and its ruling administration.

There are now just seven Tory councillors left sitting at Lys Kernow / County Hall in Truro.

Reform UK has declared victory with 28 seats, although Nigel Farage’s party hasn’t enough councillors to gain overall control of the 87-seat unitary authority. The Lib Dems gave them a run for their money, gaining 26 seats, while the Independent group won 16. The Labour and Co-operative Party group now has four seats, with Mebyon Kernow and the Green Party on three each.

It was the Conservatives who saw the worst result, though. In 2021 they were given a massive 47 majority, which dropped in recent months due to defections. At Thursday’s election they lost a whopping 39 councillors, leaving just seven on the council.

The former Tory administration’s portfolio holder for transport Connor Donnithorne – who represents Redruth Central, Carharrack & St Day – will now lead the group, which also consists of Martyn Alvey (Feock & Kea), Pauline Giles (St Blazey), Karen Glasson (Probus & St Erme), James Mustoe (Mevagissey & St Austell Bay), Jane Pascoe (Liskeard South & Dobwalls) and Jordan Rowse (St Austell Bethel & Holmbush).

What’s Cllr Donnithorne’s reaction to the terrible result for the Tories?

“It was a bad result for the Conservatives across the country, so the message is clear – people wanted change. The Independents and Labour have lost councillors, though nowhere near the extent we did. People have voted Reform in as the largest group, so clearly the national Conservative party has a lot of work to do.

“We also have our job to do locally. People voted us in on a historic majority four years ago and they’ve booted us out at an unprecedented level, so we need to take stock on what went wrong locally as well as part of the rebuild to regain the trust of voters at the next election.”

The Conservatives lost some respected councillors, such as portfolio holder for housing Olly Monk and Barbara Ellenbroek, who oversaw services for children and families.

“Yes, Nick Craker lost by 12 votes, we lost Carol Mould, we lost a significant number of colleagues and that’s very sad on a personal level. We lost lots of very hardworking colleagues and good friends.”

Cllr Donnithorne – who, at 28, is one of the youngest members of the council – has made it clear that the Tory group will not play any part in the next administration and will work as a standalone opposition group.

“We’re ready and willing to play our part in the council through the committee system to make sure we hold the incoming administration to account, whichever administration it is,” he told us. “It’s important that we hear the message loudly and clearly that was sent to us. We had a bad night and it would be wrong for us to shape any coalition talks. To do anything else would simply say that we haven’t learned our lesson.

“Under my leadership I very much intend to turn it around and build trust. Step one is listening to the result given to us. It’s not just Reform we’ve had chats with. As you’d expect, all the groups are having conversations and I’ve made it very clear to everyone that we are looking to play our part in the committee system and that’s where we hope to hold the administration to account.”

Reform largely built their local campaign on the council’s £1.3 billion debt. Does he feel a responsibility for that?

“In the last four years, I argued within Cabinet and on the floor of the chamber that we needed to reduce our capital programme sensibly to make sure that we brought down potential borrowing at the council. Certainly I will be looking now, as leader of the Conservative group in opposition, to make sure that we don’t go back to the days where administrations blow borrowing because that’s not good for anyone.

“The next four years are going to be very, very difficult. When we came in we inherited a housing service that was not up to scratch and went into special measures, and fairly quickly we turned that around, but there’s a lot to do. We’ve just got to listen to the result that was given to us, which was a message of rejection. I think there are local factors in that and national ones.”

Does he think the recent controversy surrounding his former Conservative colleague Louis Gardner’s Spaceport job and the funding around it played a part in the party’s downfall at the election?

“I don’t know but what I will say is that under my new leadership there are lessons to be learnt and I will lead my group in the way I think respects the result we got from across Cornwall.”

Does Cllr Donnithorne feel vulnerable now that he is just one of seven and not the huge group of 47 which was originally elected to the council in 2021?

“No, I don’t feel vulnerable – I feel humbled. All seven of us accept the result and understand that people wanted change and they didn’t want us to be part of that change on that grand scale. We also recognise that Cornwall didn’t vote back in a single majority group and so, politically, it’s a very fractious time.

“That’s why we want to play our part in ensuring that we put political differences aside and make sure we hold the next administration to account sensibly, pragmatically and fairly. It’s difficult to predict which administration is coming in – whether it’s the Libs Dems and Independents or whether it’s Reform.

“Whoever it is, they’ve got big challenges ahead both in terms of national funding formulas but also how they respond to huge growth in services such as adult social care and children with SEND. They also have the challenge of how they run the administration in a financially successful and secure way, but also respect the fact that the electorate voted for change in whatever way they voted for change.”