“It strikes me as a lack of trust in how the council is being run”
Reform-run Leicestershire County Council has a higher than usual number of complaints against its councillors in its first seven months of running the authority.
A response to a Freedom of Information Request revealed that Reform has received 35 complaints since May 2025. According to the Conservatives, they received four complaints in the first six months of their administration in 2021.
This includes 18 complaints from members of the public, 10 from staff, and seven from other councillors.
The Conservatives have received two complaints from members of the public over the same period.
The FOI response states that the council does not release the names of individuals involved in complaints unless a breach of the Members’ Code has been confirmed.
Reform county councillor Joseph Boam, who was removed from his role as deputy leader of the council in August, said in a recent council meeting that he’d had “about 20” complaints made against him alone.
He noted that complaints had gone up from 5 to 34 (the FOI puts the figure at 35) this year, with most relating to councillors’ social media activity and public comments.
Boam said: “Myself and others have noted that that spike started the moment Reform UK councillors were elected.”
He went on to suggest the complaints were “almost entirely vexatious” and driven by “far-left activists” attempting to “cancel and silence” Reform councillors.
The director of law and governance rejected Boam’s claim, stating: “No I wouldn’t agree with that statement, thank you.”
Responding to the complaints figures, opposition leader at Leicestershire County Council, Deborah Taylor told Left Foot Forward: “They can’t keep making excuses about being new, they’ve all received training on the councillor code of conduct.”
Taylor said she was particularly concerned about the complaints from staff. She said: “What concerns me most are the complaints from staff. I’ve never known staff to make complaints against the administration. It strikes me as a lack of trust in how the council is being run.”
“I’d be concerned with that if I was the leader and they were my councillors,” Taylor added.
The Conservative councillor also noted that this marked a significant increase in councillor complaints.
Taylor also said the figures marked a sharp increase compared with previous administrations. She said the Conservatives received four complaints in the first six months of running the council in 2021, compared with Reform’s 35.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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