‘There’s nothing worse than uncertainty, what residents and everyone that works for the council wants is stability and leadership’
The Tory leader of the opposition at Leicestershire County Council, Deborah Taylor, has criticised Reform UK for creating uncertainty since winning control of the council in May.
Her comments follow the removal of 22-year-old councillor Joseph Boam from his roles as deputy leader and cabinet member for adult social care after just three months in the job.
Taylor, who has been a councillor since 2017 and served as acting leader of the council before the local elections in May, said she first learned of Boam’s removal through social media.
“I think he was sacked. All the evidence points towards that because he’s denied that he resigned. There’s only one other alternative,” Taylor said. Boam refused to say whether he had been sacked.
Asked if it was normal to hear about cabinet changes via social media, Taylor said: “No.”
She added: “When I was the leader, I’d make sure that, a) I informed other group leaders before it hit the media. I’d also have someone lined up to take over because it’s ridiculous getting rid of someone and then not having a replacement, especially with adult social care. That and children’s are our two main portfolios that are pretty critical.”
Taylor described Boam as “totally unfit” for the role. “To put someone in there who’s never been a councillor before, and doesn’t really understand how local authority works, into that position at that age, I said right at the beginning, this is doomed to failure,” she said.
She added that his inappropriate comments on social media meant he “should never have been given the role.”
“He’s not the right sort of person, putting out statements that he doesn’t think depression is real and things like that when he’s lead for adult social care, where we have a lot of vulnerable adults that need our care and support,” she added.
Taylor also accused Boam of using AI to write his speeches. She also said she had heard from parents who emailed him for support, but that he didn’t reply to them.
The opposition leader told Left Foot Forward that she rang the Reform council leader, Dan Harrison, yesterday “to ask what’s going on and he wasn’t forthcoming. The leader couldn’t tell me any more than that they [the Reform council group] are having a meeting at 4pm today.”
Taylor said Harrison’s refusal to comment and failure to announce a replacement for Boam has created more uncertainty and allowed rumours to spread.
“There’s nothing worse than uncertainty. What residents and everyone who works for the council wants is stability and leadership,” she said.
She added: “For staff [council officers] to go in and not know who their lead member is, it’s terrible and unheard of, and to be in that position where the leader is not even telling the opposition leader.”
Taylor also expressed broader frustrations with Reform UK’s progress since May: “They keep putting in meetings to fly flags and take flags down, and I’ve actually seen them achieve absolutely nothing in the three months that they’ve been there.”
In his statement yesterday, Boam said: “I haven’t stepped down from any role. I am no longer deputy leader or in cabinet. But I have been offered a cabinet support role, which I’m inclined to take.”
Taylor responded: “If he’s been sacked from cabinet, why is he alright to do a cabinet support role?
“From what I hear it’s going to be a supporting role for heritage. I don’t know what the hell that is. We’ve never had a cabinet role for heritage.”
She added that appointment of any cabinet support members would have to go to full council for approval.
Harrison and Boam have been contacted for comment.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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