Reform UK’s Dan Bradley has won both Rye seats in Thursday’s local elections. He will represent Rye and Eastern Rother on East Sussex County Council, and Rye and Winchelsea on Rother District Council.
Speaking after returning from the count at Bexhill he said, “I’m incredibly honoured and grateful for the support shown by residents across Rye, Winchelsea and Eastern Rother. This result reflects a real desire for stronger local representation and action on the issues that matter to our communities. I’ll work hard to represent all residents fairly and visibly whether they voted for me or not. Thank you everyone that went out and voted.”
In the Rye and Eastern Rother seat on East Sussex County Council he won 1186 votes – 29.5% – ahead of nearest rival Sally-Ann Hart representing the Conservatives. The turn out was 51%.
| BRADLEY, Dan | Reform UK | 1,186 | 29.5% |
| HART, Sally-Ann | Conservative | 956 | 23.8% |
| MANNING, Dominic Mark Wistow | Green | 800 | 19.9% |
| POLLARD, Amanda Kate Carman | Labour | 550 | 13.7% |
| MIER, Andrew Stanley | Liberal Democrats | 311 | 7.7% |
| HYATT, Jimmy Edward | Independent | 193 | 4.8% |
| MCLAREN, Pete | TUSC | 21 | 0.5% |
For the Rye and Winchelsea seat on Rother District Council he won 531 votes, 31 ahead of Dominic Manning for the Green party.
| BRADLEY, Daniel | Reform UK | 531 | ELECTED |
| COOKE, David Peter | Conservative | 368 | |
| GREENUP, Derek William | Liberal Democrat | 146 | |
| MANNING, Dominic Mark Wistow |
Green Party | 500 | |
| POLLARD, Amanda Kate Carman | Labour Party | 402 |
Here are the two other local results.
East Sussex County Council – Northern Rother – Conservative hold
| EASON, Jeannie | Labour Party | 197 | |
| HARDY, Stephen Philip | Liberal Democrats | 778 | |
| JENNINGS, Jonathan Owen David | Reform UK | 1,162 | |
| REDSTONE, Paul | Conservative | 1,216 | ELECTED |
| WEDMORE, Andrew John Michael | Green Party | 408 |
East Sussex County Council – Brede and Marsham – Reform UK win from Conservatives
| COUPAR, Beverley Jane | Liberal Democrat | 869 | |
| HONEYWELL, Reece | Green Party | 447 | |
| LACH, Daniel Emil | Reform UK | 1,483 | ELECTED |
| MAYNARD, Carl Raymond | Conservative | 1,100 | |
| POLLARD, Imogen | Labour Party | 242 |
Thursday update
Voting closed at 10pm on Thursday 7 May for this year’s local elections. Rye News will publish the results as soon as they are declared – most likely on Friday afternoon/evening. All the seats on East Sussex County Council (ESCC) are being contested, along with the Rye and Winchelsea ward on Rother District Council and a place on Northiam Parish Council.
These are the seven candidates who stood in the Rye and Easter Rother ward for East Sussex County Council: Dan Bradley (Reform), Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative), Jimmy Hyatt (Independent), Dominic Manning (Green), Pete McLaren (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition), Andrew Mier (Liberal Democrat) and Amanda Pollard (Labour).
You can read more from each of these candidates here.
These are the five candidates who were on the ballot for the vacant post on Rother District Council – the Rye and Winchelsea ward – caused by the resignation of Councillor Simon McGurk: Dan Bradley (Reform), David Cooke (Conservative), Derek Greenup (Liberal Democrat), Dominic Manning (Green), Amanda Pollard (Labour).
More from each of these candidates here.
You can find out who the candidates are in the Northern Rother ward for ESCC. The Brede Valley and Marsham candidates are here.
There was also an election for one seat on Northiam Parish Council. Dean Johnson and Riley Lee are the candidates.
Rye News will publish the results of the ballots as soon as they are announced on Friday 8 May, with interviews with the winning candidates the following week.
Image Credits: Dan Bradley .
Well done Dan Bradley, on winning both elections for Rye. The electorate obviously think you are the best man to represent Rye.
Oh dear, Reform!!!
Dan Bradley Let me be the first to congratulate on your first local election win well done.
Vic v
Oh well at least we’ve got someone else to blame for everything that goes wrong now.
we must all thank the candidates that stood for Rye in the council elections, and its a shame the turnout of voters were poor. Whether the doubting Thomas’s like it or not, the Reform candidate came out tops,and we should all respect the democratic decision of those that voted for the Reform candidate.
I wonder why comments from local people who presumably treasure the NHS, benefited from a being in a Trade Union and the protection of the European Court of Human Rights would vote Reform, a company run by billionaires who look to protect their own wealth?
Reform have gained success from right wing support and divisive racist rhetoric. It’s a worrying rise of fascism.
100%…and Reform is a vote “against”, you can understand the emotion, but that is the negativity and manipulation.
Sad news for Rye, the whole population betrayed by the actions of a minority. But if more of you had bothered to vote then the result could have been different. You are as culpable as Reform will ultimately proved to be.
What conclusions can we draw from last Thursday’s poll? Half the electorate stayed at home – no ringing endorsement for any candidate – the winner in Rye got support from just 15% of the total Rye electorate – so 85% either abstained or voted for one of the other candidates. Our electoral system is broken and desperatrely needs fixing.
And the literature from Reform UK claimed to “put British people first”, reminding us perhaps of how close Farage is to his buddy the warmonger Donald J Trump. How will Reform define a British person? Birth apparently isn’t enough. Ironic that the new Reform councillor for Brede, which runs up to boundary of Rye town, should be a Canadian national, living some distance away in Etchingham. Reform may have won in Rye and Brede Valley but they are four short of a majority at County Hall, and with little prospect of any other party propping them up. And judging from experience elsewhere, notably in neighbouring Kent, Reform wont keep all their 22 councillors together for long.
Dave Clark says what conclusions can we draw from last week’s council elections, maybe look at the bigger picture Dave away from Rye, 1,500 seats won by Reform, not lies, but facts.
From what I have learnt, many of the lies may have come from the candidates’ own mouths. It appears several Reform councillors have already had to resign because of views too extreme or too disgusting to relate in a family newspaper!
Some, perhaps, reassuring statistics – not lies, but facts as JT likes to say
Of 18,811 local councillor positions only 2,365 posts are held by Reform councillors; of 369 councils Reform only hold control of only 26
Perhaps not quite the victory Reform or the media portray
Source: opencouncildata.co.uk
So, the people have spoken, at least those who voted and we have Reform. Mr Bradley’s manifesto was in fact much the same as other candidates. Nevertheless, Mr Bradley decision to join Reform must, one hopes, have been informed. It is therefore of interest to look at the salient points of their manifesto.
Europe. No to re-joining. A casualty will be the ERASMUS programme which is for young people which supports education. training and sport abroad thus enhancing career opportunities.
Christian Values in Schools. Apart from considering what distinguishes Christian values from other religions, we gain a proper understanding from studying other religions which makes for good community bonding.
Education Reform will be removing certain areas from the school curriculum which they consider to be ‘woke’ . for example slavery. This serves as distraction from the real issue of teacher shortages and provision for pupils with special needs.
I sincerely hope that those who voted Reform have not confused change for progress.
I despair.